The Georgia Department of Labor released the latest round of unemployment claim numbers on Thursday of this week and Chattooga County has seen an increase in claims over the previous month.

In June of this year, Chattooga County had 92 first-time unemployment claims.  That number jumped up to 111 claims for July, according to preliminary numbers from the Georgia Department of Labor.

The number of jobs in Georgia rose last month to an all-time high of more than 4.8 million, up 12,500 from June and 214,300 from July of last year. Job numbers were at record highs in the trade and transportation; financial activities; professional, scientific, and technical services; and education and health services sectors.

On the downside, initial unemployment claims increased by 11% last month from June to 28,545. However, first-time jobless claims have fallen significantly during the past year and are down 52%, or 30,266, from July 2021.

There are more than 217,000 jobs listed online at EmployGeorgia.com, resulting in a minimum of more than 285,000 unfilled positions.