ATLANTA (AP) — State labor officials say metro Atlanta's unemployment rate declined to 6.5 percent in April.

That's down from 7.7 percent in April a year ago.

The new rate was announced early Thursday by the Georgia Department of Labor.

Officials said in a statement that the rate declined because metro Atlanta employers created about 18,000 more jobs.

Outside metro Atlanta, the metro Athens area had the state's lowest area jobless rate at 4.9 percent.

The Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region had the highest at 8.8 percent.

The metro area jobless numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

Statewide, Georgia's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for April was 7.0 percent, unchanged from March. The rate was 8.3 percent in April a year ago