Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Macon added jobs again in March.

According to preliminary data, Macon also managed to lower the unemployment rate across the seven-county metropolitan statistical area (MSA).

“Overall, March was a very good month,” Butler said. “Georgia’s economy, just like the nation’s, is running strong. Our communities are consistently adding   jobs and unemployment rates are falling. The numbers continue to improve.”

The unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points in March, reaching 4.0 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.4 percent

Macon ended March with 103,800 jobs. That’s an increase of 300 jobs over the month and an increase of 900 jobs when compared to the same time a year ago.

The labor force decreased in March by 253. The total was 104,325. That number has gone down by 1,210 from the total from March 2018.

Macon ended March with 100,131 employed residents.  That number grew by nine over the month and decreased by 748 when compared to the same time a year ago.

The number of unemployment claims went down by 6 percent in March. When compared to last March, claims were up by about 8 percent.

The seven-county MSA includes the counties of Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond and Aiken and Edgefield in South Carolina.