Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Valdosta saw a decrease in its unemployment rate in January.

“In January we saw the rate drop in every MSA but one,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler. “Starting the year off strong with such a positive indicator is promising, especially as we learn to adapt to this everchanging workforce due to COVID.”

In Valdosta, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.6 percentage points in January, reaching 4.9 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.8 percent.

The labor force increased in Valdosta by 196 and ended the month with 66,036. That number is up 286 when compared to January of 2020.

Valdosta finished the month with 62,780 employed residents.  That number increased by 577 over the month and is down by 494 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Valdosta ended January with 55,700 jobs. That number decreased by 800 from December to January and decreased by 1,200 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims were up by about 13 percent over the month. When compared to last Valdosta, claims were up by about 249 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 676 active job postings in metro Valdosta for January.