Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that in July Columbus  increased its  labor force and employed residents and saw its unemployment rate fall. 

At the same time, the number of jobs declined slightly inside the five-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).   All indicators still remain positive for the year. 

“Georgia’s continues to be in a period of sustained growth,” Butler said. “There are no indicators in July that Georgia’s growth is going to slow down anytime soon.” 

The July unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent – 12th among all 14 MSAs in Georgia. The rate dropped 0.4 percent from the previous month. It was  5.8 percent one year ago. 

The labor force inched up in July by 343to reach 127,426 total members. Columbus’s work force has climbed by more than 2,300 over the past 12 months.  

Columbus added 733 new employed residents in July, pushing its total to 121,263. That number has grown by about 3,400 over the past year.   

Columbus  saw jobs drop by 100 to reach 122,100. This puts Columbus  up 2,000 jobs for the year.

Initial claims for unemployment are  up by about 21 percent for the month and are down by about 26 percent for the year.  

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 1,988 active job postings in metro Columbus  for July.

The five-county MSA includes the Georgia counties of Chattahoochee, Harris, Marion and Muscogee and Russell in Alabama.