Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the unemployment rate fell for the Three Rivers region in April.
 
At the same time, the region’s labor force and number of employed residents both declined. However, Butler noted that many of the indicators over the last year still remain positive.
 
“Even though we did see some fluctuations in the employment and workforce numbers across the state, job growth continues to be very strong,” Butler said.
 
In April, the number of employed residents in the Three Rivers region fell to 240,268.
 
Three Rivers lost 417 employed residents for the month but remains up 6,380 over the last year. Only five of Georgia’s 12 regional commissions saw an increase in employed residents.
 
The Three Rivers labor force ended April at 249,625. That number is down 1,216 over the last month but up 4,373 over the last year.
 
The jobless rate fell to 3.7 percent, a drop of .3 percent over the past month. A year ago, the jobless rate was 4.6 percent. The rates in Georgia’s 12 regions vary from a low of 3.1 percent in the Georgia Mountains to 4.7 percent in the River Valley region.
 
In the Three Rivers region, initial claims for unemployment were up about 50 percent for the month and up almost 2.5 percent for the year.
 
The Three Rivers area includes Butts, Carroll, Coweta, Heard, Lamar, Meriwether, Pike, Spalding, Troup, and Upson counties.