Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Valdosta recorded an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent in June, up seven-tenths of a percent over the month. A year ago, the rate was 4.8 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 decreased in Valdosta by 737 and ended the month with 63,036. That number is down 1,084 when compared to June of 2021.

Valdosta finished the month with 60,854 employed residents. That number decreased by 1,127 over the month and is down by 189 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Valdosta ended June with 55,600 jobs. That number decreased by 600 from May to June and is up by 400 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went up by 112 percent in Valdosta in June. When compared to last June, claims were down by about 77 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 461 active job postings in Valdosta for June.