The Georgia Department of Labor announced that the unemployment rate in the Northwest Georgia region in December was 5.3%, up one-tenth of a percentage point from November.

The rate in December 2014 was 6.3%. Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says that while the unemployment rate has increased slightly over December 2015, the rate is lower than it was this time last year.

One of the reasons that the unemployment rate has risen in the Northwest Georgia region – is because the labor force has actually increased, and Butler stated that the main reason for the increase in the unemployment is layoffs, adding that those layoffs are mostly temporary in nature.

Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for December was 5.5%.

That's down from 5.6% in November. It was 6.6% in December 2014.