Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Columbus’ unemployment rate decreased in July.

Additionally, Columbus saw monthly increases in labor force, employment, and jobs in July. 

“As the state continues to reopen, we are going to see wild fluctuations up and down of the unemployment rate across the state,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler.  “The numbers that we really need to focus on are the most important ones, such as increases in workforce and employment which we are continuing to see in all MSAs.” 

In Columbus, the unemployment rate decreased 0.2 percentage points in July, reaching 8.5 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.5 percent. 

Columbus ended July with 114,500. jobs. That number increased by 400 from June to July but was down by 6,500 when compared to this time last year. 

The labor force increased in July by 1,978 and ended the month with 119,373. That number is down 3,770 when compared to July of 2019. 

Columbus finished the month with 109,255 employed residents.  That number increased by 2,076 over the month but is down by 8,382 when compared to the same time a year ago. 

The number of unemployment claims went down by 16 percent in July. When compared to last July, claims were up by about 1,918 percent. 

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.comshowed about 2,916 active job postings in metro Columbus for July.