The Georgia Department of Labor announced this week that the unemployment rate in the Georgia Mountains region increased to 6.7 percent in June, up three-tenths of a percentage point from 6.4 percent in May.

The rate was 7.6 percent in June a year ago.

The rate increased due to seasonal factors, such as the summer job loss among non-contract school workers, layoffs in manufacturing, repair and maintenance and personal services, and an increase in the labor force as graduates and students entered the job market, according to the report.

The labor force grew by 281 to 313,441 from 313,160 in May.

Also, there were 1,712 new claims for unemployment insurance filed in June, an increase of 269, or 18.6 percent, from 1,443 in May.

There were 1,809 claims filed in June 2013.

Metro Athens had the lowest area jobless rate at 6.3 percent, while the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 10.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgia's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for June was 7.4 percent, up from 7.2 percent in May.

The rate was 8.4 percent in May a year ago.

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