Delaware's unemployment rate rose only slightly from August to September, though it's still inching closer to the national jobless rate.
22,900 people are now unemployed in the First State -- a 4.9 percent rate, up from 4.8 percent last month.
Last month's number was adjusted down from 4.9 percent, which had been the biggest bump in unemployment in years in Delaware, so state Labor department statistician George Sharpley says the jobless rate is effectively holdings teady.
And it's still lower than the jobless rate a year ago, which stood at 5.5 percent. Nationally, unemployment stayed at 5.1 percent from August to September. It was 5.9 percent a year before.
Sharpley says overall, Delaware is still adding jobs -- about 6,200 non-farming positions over the past 12 months. That's about half as many as the year before, but Sharpley says that was a rapid increase that's now leveling off to a more normal rate
Non-seasonally adjusted rates in New Castle and Kent Counties dropped - New Castle from 5.1 percent to 4.9 percent and Kent from 5.9 to 5.4. Sussex County's rate increased from 4.2 to 4.4 percent. In Wilmington, the non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 7.6 percent
