Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the River Valley region saw its unemployment rate fall as it added to its workforce in March.
 
The 16-county region also posted monthly losses in labor force, while claims for unemployment decreased, preliminary numbers show.
 
“We are moving into the Spring with a strong jobs report,” Butler said. “The national economy is booming. Georgia is also producing strong numbers consistently across the state.”
 
The unemployment rate fell in March. The rate dropped 0.3 percentage points in March, settling at 4.6 percent. A year ago, the rate was 5.0 percent.
 
The labor force decreased in March by 360. The March total was 147,986. That number is down by 1,526 from the total from March 2018.
 
River Valley ended March with 141,212 employed residents.  The number increased by 127 in March but went down by 812 as compared to last March.
 
The number of unemployment claims decreased in March by about 14 percent. When compared to last March, claims were down by about 2 percent.
 
Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 2,456 active job postings in River Valley for March.
 
The River Valley area includes Chattahoochee, Clay, Crisp, Dooly, Harris, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, and Webster counties.