Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said Thursday that the Coastal Georgia region saw its unemployment rate and initial claims for unemployment decline in March.

The 10-county Coastal Georgia region also posted monthly losses in labor force and employed residents, preliminary numbers show.

“We are moving into the Spring with a strong jobs report,” Butler said. “The national economy is booming. Georgia is also producing strong numbers consistently across the state.”

The unemployment rate fell in March. The rate dropped 0.3 percentage points in March, settling at 3.6 percent. A year ago, the rate was 3.9 percent.

The labor force decreased in March by 825. The March total was 332,571. That number is down by 3,433 from the total from March 2018.

Coastal Georgia ended March with 320,507 employed residents.  The number decreased by 38 in March and 2,268 as compared to last March.

The number of unemployment claims decreased in March by 9 percent. When compared to last March, claims were down by 24 percent.

Employ Georgia, the GDOL’s online job listing service at employgeorgia.com showed 5,427 active job postings in Coastal Georgia for March.

The Coastal region includes Bryan, Bulloch, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long, McIntosh, and Screven counties.