Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Valdosta’s March unemployment rate remained unchaged at 3.3 percent. A year ago, the rate was 4.3 percent. Despite this, Valdosta saw a rise in the labor force, number of employed, and job numbers in March.

“Across Georgia, we continue to see increases in the labor force, the number of employed, and the number of jobs,” said Commissioner Mark Butler. “With Georgia having the lowest unemployment rate of the top ten most populated states, we are pleased to see Georgians enter the workforce filling the many open positions available in all of our regions and counties.”

The labor force increased in Valdosta by 127 and ended the month with 64,470. That number is down 658 when compared to March of 2021.

Valdosta finished the month with 62,312 employed residents. That number increased by 116 over the month and is up by 7 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Valdosta ended March with 56,100 jobs. That number increased by 100 from February to March and is up by 700 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went down by 15 percent in Valdosta in March. When compared to last March, claims were down by about 89 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 595 active job postings in Valdosta for March.