ATLANTA — State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler announced this week that the preliminary unadjusted unemployment rate in the metro Hinesville area decreased to 8.6 percent in March, down two-tenths of a percentage point from a revised 8.8 percent in February. The jobless rate in the metro Hinesville area in March a year ago was 8.5 percent.
The rate decreased because there were 100 new jobs in Hinesville in March, mostly with the federal government, and there were fewer layoffs in construction, accommodations and food services, he said.    
“The unemployment rate decreased in Hinesville as well as in all of the state’s other 24 local areas,” Butler said. “This is encouraging and hopefully indicates that a modest recovery may be building throughout the state.”
The lowest rate, at 7.3 percent, was in metro Athens, while the highest rate, at 11.7 percent, was in the Heart of Georgia — the Altamaha region around Dublin.
Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March was 10 percent, down two-tenths of a percentage point, from a revised 10.2 percent in February. The state’s jobless rate also was 10.2 percent in March 2010.
March marked the 42nd consecutive month that Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate, which currently is 8.8 percent.
Local area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. Georgia labor-market data are available at www.dol.state.ga.us.