Marianna, FL – The preliminary employment numbers released by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) show an unemployment rate of 5.0% in April 2021 for the 5-county region served by CareerSource Chipola (CSC). While this reflects a slight increase of 0.1% since March, it is also indicative of a significant increase in the area’s labor force over the last year as COVID-19 pandemic recovery continues. “This most recent labor force report continues to prove we are moving forward from the impacts of the pandemic,” says CSC Executive Director Richard Williams. “Over the last year, we’ve had significant gains in both our labor force and the number of people actually employed.” The local unemployment rate for the area as a whole is down 3.0% from April 2020, as both the labor pool and number of individuals returning to work continue to rebound.