Delaware’s unemployment rate remains steady in March.
The unemployment rate, which is seasonally adjusted, stayed the same in March at 3.7%.
Originally, February’s rate was at 3.6%, but it was almost 3.7% and shifted higher to that number after a revision.
The March figure is also the same as it was in March 2024, and the national number last month was at 4.2%.
The area unemployment numbers – which are not seasonally adjusted – were mixed, as Wilmington and Sussex County were lower, Middletown was the same, and Dover, New Castle County, and Kent County were higher.
Last month, the seasonally adjusted number of unemployed workers in Delaware rose by 400 to 18,900, which is the largest over-the-month increase since March 2021, when it grew by 500.
According to the Department of Labor, the increase was driven by new entrants – those without any prior work history – as the number of first-time job seekers represents a quarter of all unemployed.
The state also says that re-entrant job seekers, who are those returning to the labor force, have also increased in the past 12-month period, and they represent another quarter of the unemployed.
When breaking down the jobs numbers from last month, nonfarm employment was up to 493,200 from 492,600, and those numbers are seasonally adjusted.
Since March 2024, there’s been a net gain of 2,600 in nonfarm jobs, which is a 0.5% rise, which lags behind the national increase in that same period of 1.2%.
The industry that has taken the biggest hits in the last month and over the last year is the Leisure & Hospitality industry.
The industry that has seen the biggest gains in the year is Private Education & Health, while in the last month it’s been Trade, Transportation & Utilities.
