Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that Valdosta saw positive over-the-month measures in almost every key indicator in April.

“We had another strong month in April,” said Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler. “We saw the unemployment rate decrease in almost every MSA, along with an over the month and over the year decrease in initial claims for every MSA.”   

In Valdosta, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points in April, reaching 3.8 percent. A year ago, the rate was 9.8 percent.

The labor force increased in Valdosta by 86 and ended the month with 66,170. That number is up 3,745 when compared to April of 2020.

Valdosta finished the month with 63,653 employed residents.  That number increased by 164 over the month and is up by 7,325 when compared to the same time a year ago.

Valdosta ended April with 56,000 jobs. That number remained flat from March to April and increased by 4,500 when compared to this time last year.

The number of unemployment claims went down by 3 percent in Valdosta. When compared to last April, claims were down by about 88 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed about 681 active job postings in metro Valdosta for April.