The jobless rate in Hall County is headed back in the right direction.

The jobless rate in the metro Gainesville area for August was 4.8 percent, down six-tenths of a percentage point from 5.4 percent in July, the Georgia Department of Labor announced today in a news release. The rate in August 2014 was 6.5 percent.

The region's unemployment rate is the lowest in the state measured by the Labor Department.

The rate declined as employers created more jobs and new layoffs, as measured by initial unemployment insurance claims, decreased, the Labor Department stated. The number of jobs in Gainesville increased by 900, 1.1 percent, in August to 82,400.

Those gains came mostly in local government, trade transportation and warehousing, and the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction. In the last year, Gainesville gained 2,100 jobs, a growth rate of 2.6 percent, from 80,300 in August 2014.

Most of the job growth came in the service-related industries such as trade, transportation and warehousing, along with the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction.

In addition, initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 31.5 percent in August. Most of the decrease came in manufacturing and administrative and support services. Over the year, claims were down by 235, or 44.4 percent, from 529 in August 2014.

The jobless rate in the Georgia Mountains region also fell in August, down to 5 percent after registering 5.6 percent in July and 6.7 percent in August 2014.

Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for August was 5.9 percent, down from 6 percent in July. It was 7.1 percent in August 2014.