The Georgia Department of Labor announced a decline in Newton County’s unemployment rates for September, as well as for the Metro Atlanta area as a whole.

Despite the drop, though, the county continues to report a higher number of unemployment rates that the rest of the metro region.

In September, the Northeast Georgia region reported a slight decline in the percentage of people unemployed — from 5.6 percent in August, down one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.5 percent in September. The rate in September of 2014 was 6.6 percent.

In comparison, unemployment rates in Newton County show that 6.5 percent of the Newton County labor force, or 3,102 people, were unemployed. That’s down about 100 people from August, with 3,206 people unemployed, or 6.7 percent of the labor force.

The rate dropped more than 1.3 percent, from 3,782 unemployed last September to this year’s 3,102 unemployed people, increasing the number of people who reported working by 680 people.

The number of initial unemployment claims in the county dropped from 386 last September to 305 this September, a 21 percent drop over the year.

The rate fell as more residents got a job and there were fewer new layoffs.