The Georgia Department of Labor announced that the unemployment rate in the Middle Georgia region in April was 5.1 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from 5.2 percent in March. In April 2016, the rate was 5.4 percent.

The rate declined as the labor force declined and there were fewer employed and unemployed residents.

The labor force, which consists of employed residents and those who are unemployed and actively looking for jobs, declined by 364 to 218,164. However, that total represents an increase of 3,581 over the past 12 months.

There were 132 fewer Middle Georgia area residents employed in April than in March, lowering the total number to 206,988. However, there were 4,090 more people employed in April than in April 2016.

The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of new layoffs, rose by 12, or 1.4 percent, to 845. The increase came in manufacturing and retail trade. Over the year, however, claims were down by 327, or 27.9 percent, from 1,172 in April 2016.

Metro Gainesville had the lowest area jobless rate at 3.9 percent, while the Heart of Georgia and River Valley regions had the highest at 5.9 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for April was 5 percent, down from 5.1 percent in March. It was 5.4 percent in April 2016.

Job seekers and employers are encouraged to use GDOL’s online job listing service employgeorgia.com to search for jobs or recruit new employees. In April, 2,500 new job openings in the Middle Georgia region were posted on Employ Georgia. Throughout the state, 75,183 new job openings were posted.