Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Rome’s labor force increased in July.

Additionally, Rome saw monthly increases in employment and monthly decreases in initial claims 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 Rome, the unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point in July, reaching 7.1 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.7 percent.

The labor force increased in July by 117 and ended the month with 44,138. That number is down 298 when compared to July of 2019. 

Rome finished the month with 41,004 employed residents.  That number increased by 53 over the month but is down by 1,349 when compared to the same time a year ago. 

Rome ended July with 41,400 jobs. That number decreased by 600 from June to July and was down 400 when compared to this time last year. 

The number of unemployment claims went down by 13 percent in July. When compared to last July, claims were up by about 538 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.comshowed about 620 active job postings in metro Rome for July.