February’s unemployment rate is down from January, which lines up with 2023’s revised unemployment rate.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate last month was at 4% down from 4.1% in January. It’s just a hair above the national number which was 3.9%.
Tom Dougherty is the chief of Delaware’s Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information. He says February’s rate is in line with last year's revised unemployment rate.
"During the year we had estimated an unemployment rate of an annual average of 4.3%, and through our revisions that rate was revised downwards to 4.0% in 2023," said Dougherty.
Jobs numbers last month saw an increase of 700 from January and a net gain of 5,000 since February 2023. That’s a 1.1% increase, lagging behind the 1.8% growth nationally.
Dougherty says seasonally adjusted jobs numbers were also revised for 2023.
"The average monthly employment was revised down about 600 in 2023, and so those revisions are something that we do every year; they're not really unusual," said Dougherty.
The state was supported by the Leisure and Hospitality sectors last month which saw an increase of 700 jobs, while Manufacturing jobs took the biggest hit losing 300 jobs in February.
