Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Atlanta saw its initial claims for unemployment drop over-the-month and over-the-year.

"This is a step in the right direction, but we need to continue to get Georgians back to work,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler. “Increasing the amount of people in our labor force is critical for us to continue to improve.”

In Atlanta, the unemployment rate remained unchanged in May, staying at 3.9 percent. A year ago, the rate was 10.2 percent.

The labor force decreased in Atlanta by 15,750 and ended the month with 3,100,999. That number is up 75,280 when compared to May of 2020.

Atlanta finished the month with 2,979,711 employed residents.  That number decreased by 14,219 over the month and is up by 262,348 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Atlanta ended May with 2,748,700 jobs. That number increased by 15,400 from April to May and increased by 187,500 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went down by 16 percent in May. When compared to last May, claims were down by about 88 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 150,000 active job postings in metro Atlanta for May.