Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Southwest Georgia saw a decrease in its unemployment rate for April.

“We had another strong month in April,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler. “We saw the unemployment rate decrease in every region and county, along with an over the month and over the year decrease in initial claims for nearly every region and country.”   

In Southwest Georgia, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points, bringing the rate to 4.2 percent. A year ago, the rate was 9.5 percent.

The labor force decreased in April by 1,438. The March total was 148,487. That number is up by 3,901 from the total from April 2020.

Southwest Georgia ended April with 142,241 employed residents.  The number decreased by 875 in April and was up 11,350 as compared to last year.

 Initial claims for unemployment decreased by 12 percent in April. When compared to last April, claims were down by about 88 percent.

The GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 2,232 active job postings in Southwest Georgia for April.