The unemployment rate for Dawson and neighboring counties in the region continues to fall.

The Georgia Department of Labor announced recently that the unemployment rate in the Georgia Mountains region in September was 6.2 percent, down seven-tenths of a percentage point from 6.9 percent in August.

Dawson County's rate has continued to improve, going from 6.8 to 6.6 percent in August.

According to the state department of labor, the rate dropped because there were 2,305 fewer unemployed people in the Georgia Mountains area in September, citing the federal government's monthly household survey, and there were fewer new layoffs.

There were 1,552 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in September, a decrease of 21, or 1.3 percent, from 1,573 in August.

Most of the decrease in claims came in manufacturing and construction and wholesale and retail trade. Over the year, claims were up 0.9 percent from the 1,538 filed in September 2013.

Georgia's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for September was 7.9 percent, down from 8.1 percent in August. It was 8.0 percent in September 2013.

Local area unemployment data are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.gdol.ga.gov.