The Genesee County unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in March, the lowest rate so far this year and lower than the 6.2 percent of March 2015.
The rate was 5.5 in February and 5.7 in January.
For the entire GLOW region, the unemployment rate was 5.8 percent, down from 6.7 percent a year ago.
The state rate is 5.2 percent.
On the jobs side, there were 22,100 non-farm positions reported in Genesee County for March, compared to 22,000 a year ago.
The state's labor force participation rate, which had been in steep decline starting in 2009 has shown consistent increases over the past three or four months and is now 63 percent. A decade ago, it hovered around 66 percent.
The labor force participation rate measures all people age 16 and older who either hold jobs or are looking for jobs.
Genesee County's labor force is reported as 29,900. It was 29,500 in March 2015; 32,800 in 2008. The lowest point for March over the past decade was last year.
