ATLANTA - State labor officials say metro Atlanta's unemployment rate has risen to 8.9 percent.
The Georgia Department of Labor announced the new numbers early today.
The 8.9 percent jobless rate for June was up seventh-tenths of a percent point, from 8.2 percent in May. That was still under the 9.3 percent rate in June a year ago.
The labor department said the rate increased primarily because of two seasonal factors: large numbers of education workers are unemployed during the summer and new graduates are considered unemployed until they find a job.
Metro Athens had Georgia's lowest area jobless rate at 7.2 percent.
The Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region in central Georgia had the highest rate at 12.9 percent.
The jobless figures for metro areas are not seasonally adjusted.