Jobless numbers in metro Savannah, as well as across coastal Georgia, have gone up, according to the state labor department.
The Georgia Department of Labor announced last week that metro Savannah’s unemployment rate increased to 8.8 percent in June, up nine-tenths of a percentage point from 7.9 percent in May. The rate was also 8.8 percent in June a year ago.
The unemployment rate in the coastal Georgia region also increased — up 1.0 percent to 9.5 percent in June from 8.5 percent in May. The rate was 9.4 percent in June a year ago.
In metro Savannah, the rate increased primarily because of two seasonal factors: large numbers of education workers are unemployed during the summer and new graduates are considered unemployed until they find a job.
Also, the number of layoffs, represented by initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits, rose by 70, or 3.9 percent, to 1,854 in June from 1,784 in May. The increases came mostly in administrative and support services, transportation and warehousing, educational services, and health care and social assistance.    
While the jobless rate increased, the number of jobs in metro Savannah decreased by 100, or one-tenth of a percentage point, from 159,500 in May to 159,400 in June. Most of the job loss came in state government.
In the coastal Georgia region, the rate increased primarily because of two seasonal factors: large numbers of education workers are unemployed during the summer and new graduates are considered unemployed until they find a job.
Also, the number of layoffs, represented by initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits, rose by 15 to 2,959 in June from 2,944 in May. The increases came mostly in transportation and warehousing.
The labor force, which is the number of people employed plus those unemployed but actively looking for work, declined to 321,107 in June, down by 227 from 321,334 in May. It was down by 722 from 321,829 in June 2012.   
Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 7.2 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 12.9 percent.