Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that in July Savannah’s unemployment rate fell under 4 percent.

At the same time, jobs, labor force and employed residents all fell for the month inside the three-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA). Unemployment claims also increased for the month.   

“Georgia’s continues to be in a period of sustained growth,” Butler said. “There are no indicators in July that Georgia is going to slow down anytime soon. These monthly dips are not significant.” 

The July unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent –  tied for second among all 14 MSAs in Georgia. The rate fell by .3 percent from the previous month. It was  4.6 percent one year ago. 

The labor force fell in July by 722 to reach 188,173 total members. Savannah’s work force has fallen by about 250 over the past 12 months. 

Savannah dropped 213 from its number of employed residents in July, pushing its total to 181,180. That number has grown by about 1,400 over the past year.  

Savannah  saw jobs drop by 2,300 to reach 178,300. This puts Savannah down 1,200 jobs for the year.

Initial claims for unemployment are up by about 1 percent for the month and are down by about 10 percent for the year. 

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 2,878 active job postings in metro Savannah  for July.  

The MSA includes Bryan, Chatham, and Effingham counties.