Metro Gainesville's unemployment rate took a bump up for the first time this year in May, rising to to 5.1 percent from 4.7 percent in April, according to the Georgia Department of Labor.

The rate in May 2014 was 6.1 percent.

The region's rate rose as the labor force and number of new layoffs increased, the Labor Department said. The labor force grew by 884 to 91,617, and while the new entrants are searching for work, they are counted as unemployed. Last year in May, the labor force grew by 1,488.

The growing labor force was coupled with an increase in initial claims for unemployment insurance, which rose by 76, or 24.1 percent, to 392 in May. Most of the increase came in administrative and support services, wholesale trade, health care and social assistance, and professional and technical services. Over the year, claims were down by 32, or 7.5 percent, from 424 filed in May 2014.

The number of jobs in Gainesville increased by 200, or 0.2 percent, in May to 83,000 up from 82,800 in April. Most of the job gains came in trade, transportation and warehousing and local government.

And, there was an over-the-year gain of 3,200 jobs, or 4.0 percent, from 79,800 in May 2014. Most of the job growth came in trade, transportation and warehousing, service industries, and the goods-producing sector, which includes manufacturing and construction.

Despite the rise, metro Gainesville still had the state's lowest area jobless rate at 5.1 percent. The unemployment rate in the Georgia Mountains region in May was 5.3 percent, up four-tenths of a percentage point from 4.9 percent in April.

Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for May was 6.3 percent, up from a revised 6.2 percent in April. It was 7.3 percent in May 2014.