In another sign that economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is underway, Austin's unemployment rate last month fell below 5% for the first time since December 2020 and to its lowest point in a year. As vaccine rollouts increased and businesses continued to reopen, the area's jobless rate decreased from 5.3% in March to 4.5% in April, according to new figures from the Texas Workforce Commission. The data include Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties. The Austin region's April unemployment rate is now far below the pandemic peak of about 12% in April 2020. It has spent the past eight months hovering in a monthly range of about 5% to 6% — which is roughly double pre-pandemic levels, as the area's jobless rate was 2.6% in February 2020.