Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the unemployment rate and initial unemployment claims both fell in April in the Southwest Georgia.
 
However, Butler noted that those gains were somewhat offset by drops in the labor force and number of employed residents for the month. Still, all indicators for the year remain positive.
 
“Even though we did see some fluctuations in the employment and workforce numbers across the state, job growth continues to be very strong,” Butler said.
 
In April, the number of employed residents in the Southwest Georgia region fell to 144,232.
 
Southwest Georgia lost 395 employed residents for the month but remains up 1,784 over the last year. Only five of Georgia’s 12 regional commissions saw an increase in employed residents.
 
The Southwest Georgia labor force ended April at 150,529. That number is down 1,147 over the last month but up 179 over the last year.
 
The jobless rate fell to 4.2 percent, a drop of .4 percent over the past month. A year ago, the jobless rate was 5.3 percent. The rates in Georgia’s 12 regions vary from a low of 3.1 percent in the Georgia Mountains to 4.7 percent in the River Valley region.
 
In the Southwest Georgia region, initial claims for unemployment were down about 2 percent for the month and up 8 percent for the year.
 
The Southwest Georgia Region includes Baker, Calhoun, Colquitt, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lee, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Terrell, Thomas, and Worth counties.