According to Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) lastest data, Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 9.3 percent in July, up three-tenths of a percentage point from 9.0 percent in June.State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says one reason for the increase is a large number of temporary layoffs in manufacturing. However, Butler also states that

“many of those people have already gone back to work.”

The good news is that even with the percentage increasing three-tenths of a percentage point from 9.0 in June to 9.3 in July, the unemployment rate is still down a total of seven-tenths from a reported 10 percent unemployment rate in July of 2011. Furthermore, the number of jobs dropped by 17,900, or five-tenths of a percentage point, from 3,931,900 in June to 3,914,000 in July, but the number of jobs in July 2012 still reportedly remained 50,600 more than the 3,863,400 in July 2011.

Also, the combined charts for Job Gains/Losses provided by GDOL shows that jobs have increased in all areas of the metro Atlanta area from July 2011 to 2012 except for Columbus, Rome, Augusta, and Dalton, which may be evidence of the large number of recent temporary layoffs in manufacturing.

For more information regarding the current labor market, please visit the Georgia Department of Labor website at http://www.dol.state.ga.us/.