While statewide employment hit a 16-year high in September, Gainesville’s jobless rate remained the same. While the state has not released localized percentages for September, in August Gainesville’s rate of unemployment was 5.5 percent, up 0.2 percent from July.

Statewide, 6.5 percent of Georgians were jobless in September, the highest rate in 16 years, according the Georgia labor officials.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up two percentage points from 4.5 percent the same time last year and two-tenths of one percentage point from 6.3
percent in August.

The state rate remains above the national rate of 6.1 percent for the eighth straight month.

During the last year, the number of payroll jobs decreased 53,200, or 1.3 percent.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate last reached this level in November 1992, when it was 6.6 percent.

State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond reminds unemployed Georgians to tap the Department of Labor’s employment services.

"Despite the troubling unemployment statistics, I want to reassure jobless Georgians that the Department of Labor is committed to helping them get back to work," he said.