The Georgia Department of Labor announced today that Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate for May was 5.9 percent, up three-tenths of a percentage point from 5.6 percent in April. The rate in May 2014 was 6.9 percent.

The rate rose as the labor force grew by 23,594 to 2,831,311, and while the new entrants are searching for work, they are counted as unemployed. Last year in May, the labor force grew by 20,131.   

The number of jobs in Atlanta increased by 16,000, or 0.6 percent, in May to 2,583,200. All of the job gains came in the private sector, mostly leisure and hospitality, 9,700; professional and business services, 6,500; construction, 1,600; and trade, transportation and warehousing, 1,500. Government lost 2,500 jobs, primarily in non-contract school employees. In the previous three years, Atlanta gained an average of 14,300 jobs in May.

There was an over-the-year gain of 79,600 jobs, or 3.2 percent, from May 2014. Most of the job growth came in professional and business services, 20,100; trade, transportation and warehousing, 19,400; leisure and hospitality, 17,500; education and health services, 9,800; construction, 6,100; and financial activities, 5,700.  

The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance declined by 450, or 3.2 percent, to 13,753 in May. Most of the decrease came in construction, manufacturing and retail trade. Over the year, claims were down by 1,874, or 12 percent, from 15,627 filed in May 2014.     

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 5.1 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 7.7 percent.  

Meanwhile, 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.