Metro Gainesville, which includes all of Hall County, continues to show the state’s lowest unemployment rate, the Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday.

The rate in metro Gainesville was 4.7 percent in September, down slightly from 4.8 percent in August. That’s down significantly from the rate of 5.8 percent in September 2014.

Gainesville had the lowest unemployment rate among the 25 local areas surveyed by the Labor Department. The only other region below 5 percent was the Georgia Mountains region at 4.9 percent, which was down from 5 percent in August and from 6 percent the same period last year.

The rate declined as the number of unemployed residents decreased by 83 to 4,241 from 4,324 in August, the Labor Department reported. At the same time, the number of jobs in Gainesville decreased by 300, 0.4 percent, in September to 82,100. The job losses came mostly in the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction, and wholesale trade, transportation and warehousing.

Yet over the year, Gainesville gained 1,200 jobs, a growth rate of 1.5 percent, from 80,900 in September 2014. Most of the job growth came in the goods-producing sector and retail trade, transportation and warehousing.

Meanwhile, the number of initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 397, or 135 percent, to 691 in September. Most of the increase came in manufacturing. Over the year, claims were up by 112, or 19.3 percent, from 579 in September 2014.

Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for September was 5.8 percent, unchanged from August. It was 6.9 percent in September 2014.

Over the month, Georgia gained 9,100 jobs, and is ranked third nationally in monthly job creation. Over the year, Georgia gained 84,200 jobs.