ATLANTA — The Georgia Department of Labor last week announced the preliminary unemployment rate in Coastal Georgia was unchanged at 8.8 percent from April to May.

The rate was 9.0 percent in May 2011.

The Coastal region includes Liberty and Long counties.

Metro Savannah’s rate for May also was unchanged at 8.4 percent, 0.1 percent lower than May 2011.

Metro Athens had the state’s lowest jobless area rate at 6.5 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 11.4 percent. Athens has had the lowest area rate, or tied for the lowest, each month since December 2009. Dalton has had the highest area rate since August 2011.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.9 percent from April to May. The jobless rate was 9.8 percent in May a year ago. The number of jobs grew to 3,944,900 in May, up by 16,400 from April and by 34,000 from May a year ago.