ATLANTA –— The Georgia Department of Labor reported Wednesday that the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in metro Savannah rose to 9.3 percent in January, up eight-tenths of one percentage point from a revised 8.5 percent in December. Meanwhile the number of unemployed workers in the area increased to 16,315, up 1,496 from 14,819 in December.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 10.4 percent in January, topping the previous record high of 10.3 percent reported in December. This marks the 28th consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national seasonally adjusted rate, which was 9.7 percent.

The state’s January jobless rate was up 2.0 percentage points from 8.4 percent at this same time last year. The jobless rate in metro Savannah January 2009 was 7.4 percent.

Local area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor market data are available at www.dol.state.ga.us.