Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that River Valley’s unemployment rate increased in September.

Additionally, River Valley saw a monthly decrease in its number of employed residents for September.

“Although we saw some negative metrics in certain regions and counties, a majority of the areas saw increases in jobs, employed residents, and labor force,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. “We really need to push the tens of thousands of jobs that we have on our online job listing page EmployGeorgia.com. The more we fill these jobs, the more our state can regulate and show positive numbers throughout all regions and counties.”

In River Valley, the unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points, bringing the rate to 6.9 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.9 percent.

The labor force increased in September by 179. The September total was 140,535. That number is down by 5,947 from the total from September 2019.

River Valley ended September with 130,829 employed residents.  The number decreased by 221 in September but was down 9,971 as compared to last year.

Initial claims for unemployment decreased by 17 percent in September. When compared to last September, claims were up by about 909 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 3,374 active job postings in River Valley for September.