State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said today that the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in the metro Albany area decreased to 10.1 percent in March, down five-tenths of a percentage point from a revised 10.6 percent in February. The jobless rate in the metro Albany area in March a year ago was 10.8 percent.

The rate decreased because there were 1,700 new jobs in Albany in March, mostly in the service-related industries, and there were fewer layoffs in construction, retail trade, and administrative and support services.

“The unemployment rate decreased in Albany, as well as in all of the state’s other 24 local areas,” said Butler. “This is encouraging, and hopefully indicates that a modest recovery may be building throughout the state.”

The lowest rate, at 7.3 percent was in metro Athens, while the highest rate, at 11.7 percent, was in the Heart of Georgia – Altamaha region around Dublin.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March was 10.0 percent, down two-tenths of a percentage point, from a revised 10.2 percent in February. The state’s jobless rate was also 10.2 percent in March 2010.

March marked the 42nd consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate, which is currently 8.8 percent.