Jason Buffington had put off filing for unemployment benefits as long as he possibly could. On Thursday though, the financial hardships overcame the blow to his self-esteem to the point that he joined dozens of others in the office of the Department of Labor’s Career Center on Riverside Parkway, filing for help from the state agency.

The unemployment rate was up in Rome and Floyd County in June. The Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday that the jobless rate in Rome had climbed from 10.2 percent in May to 10.6 percent in June.

While up from May to June, the local unemployment picture is better than June of last year when the rate was 11.2 percent.

Buffington, 32, of Rome, had been doing construction work but has been without a job for about six months. “I thought I would have been able to get a job sooner than this, but it just hasn’t happened,” Buffing­ton said. “I’m willing to take a lower paying job just to have a job.”

Janice Mason, 52, of Rome, was also doing some paperwork at the office in Rome on Thursday.

“I have been looking since the last of February,” said Mason, who was an assistant manager for one of the local convenience store chains, but her husband doesn’t want her to go back into that type of situation.

Gregory Gordon, 33, of Rome, has been out of work for nearly a year. His last job was as a cook at WOW Wingery on Martha Berry Highway. He’s been cutting grass and washing cars to generate enough money to get by.

“I’ve filled out a bunch of applications and called to check on them, but nobody calls back,” Gordon said.

Charles Walker, 32, of Rome, said he has been hunting for a job since late February.

Like Gordon, he was last employed in the food industry at McDonald’s on Shorter Avenue and is willing to take just about anything to get a regular paycheck.

After losing his job at McDonald’s, he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he didn’t have any luck looking for a job. Walker recently moved back to Rome, but he still hasn’t had any success in the job market.

Even though the unemployment rate for Rome and Floyd County increased from May to June, the Department of Labor said 126 more Floyd residents were actually working in June. The rate went up because the local labor force jumped by almost 400 citizens.

Joblessness across the 15-county Northwest Georgia region was up from 9.1 percent in May to 9.7 percent in June.