The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Metro Valdosta’s unemployment rate for August was 6.2 percent, down six-tenths of a percentage point from 6.8 percent in July. The rate in August 2014 was 7.9 percent.

The rate declined as employers created more jobs and new layoffs, as measured by initial unemployment insurance claims, decreased. 

The number of jobs in Valdosta increased by 400, or 0.8 percent, in August to 53,700. The job gains came mostly in state and local government, as local school system employees returned from the summer recess, trade, transportation and warehousing, and the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction.  

However, over-the-year, Valdosta lost 1,000 jobs, or 1.8 percent, from 54,700 in August 2014. Most of the job losses came in state government and the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction. 

Also, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 135, or 33.4 percent, to 269 in August. Most of the decrease came in manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and administrative and support services. Over the year, claims were down by 82, or 23.4 percent, from 351 in August 2014.     

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 4.8 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.7 percent.  

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for August was 5.9 percent, down from 6.0 percent in July. It was 7.1 percent in August 2014.