In the latest round of numbers from the Georgia Department of Labor, unemployment claims were up in the month of June in Chattooga County.

The numbers released on Thursday show that Chattooga County had 94 unemployment claims last month.  That is over twice as many claims as there were in May of this year when 44 people filed for unemployment in Chattooga County.  However, the number is down over last year’s report.  In June of 2021, there were 117 unemployment claims in the county.

Statewide, Labor Commissioner Mark Butler reports the state’s June unemployment rate hit an all-time low of 2.9 percent while Georgia’s number of jobs continued to climb to an all-time high of 4,801,800. County-by-county jobless rates will be released in a week.

Jobs are up 18,100 from May to June and up 246,300 over the year. Georgia’s unemployment rate was seven-tenths of a percent lower than the national June 2022 unemployment rate of 3.6 percent.

“We have never seen an unemployment rate below 3 percent,” said Butler. “The unemployment rate is decreasing exactly the way it should in a strong economy. We are adding new job seekers and they are quickly finding employment.”

The state saw an all-time high number of employed Georgians of 5,134,566, up 10,420 in June. The labor force was at an all-time high of 5,289,765, up 8,103 over the month, and the number of unemployed was down 2,317 to 155,199, the lowest figure since March 2001’s 152,974.