Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Augusta recorded an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent in June, up six-tenths of a percent over the month. A year ago, the rate was 4.6 percent.

“While the seasonally adjusted state unemployment rate went down in June, it is important to note that local area rates are not seasonally adjusted to take account for fluctuations due to seasonal events that include weather, harvests, major holidays, and school schedules,” said Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “The increase in local rates is typical for summer and Georgia is still leading the Southern Region and third in the nation in percentage increases in employment.”

Georgia had a seasonally adjusted percent change in employment of 5.4 percent from June 2021 to June 2022. Georgia ranked 3rd (out of 8) in the South Region and 18th nationally for lowest unemployment rate, with a preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2.9 percent for June 2022 and had the second lowest unemployment rate among the top ten most populated states (Florida, 2.8%).

The labor force increased in Augusta by 73 and ended the month with 269,031. That number is up 1,897 when compared to June of 2021.

Augusta finished the month with 259,079 employed residents. That number decreased by 1,502 over the month and is up by 4,153 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Augusta ended June with 244,500 jobs. That number is up 200 from May to June and increased by 7,700 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went up by 43 percent in Augusta in June. When compared to last June, claims were down by about 71 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 7,975 active job postings in Augusta for June.