Delaware’s unemployment rate is up again.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rose to 4.2% in August, up from 4.1% in July, and higher than August 2023, when the rate stood at 4%.
The national rate was also 4.2% last month, but that was down from 4.3% in July. It was also higher than August of last year when the unemployment rate nationally was 3.8%.
Tom Dougherty is chief of the Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information. He says the long range state unemployment data is better than the short range numbers.
"Actually it's been going up a little bit,” said Dougherty. “I think it was at 3.9 in May of 2024, so it's going up a little bit, but if you look at the long-term, it's been pretty steady. In April 2022 we were at 4.2%, and now we're at 4.2%. It's still pretty steady for the last few years."
Seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment in August was 488,900, down 1,000 from July, but the August number is still a net gain of 5,100 from last year - a 1%. increase.
That rate still lags behind the national increase of 1.5% in the same time period.
Dougherty says a few industries lead the way for the First State.
"We got government up 2400 over the year. We have private education and health up 1500 over the year. Professional business services up twelve hundred over the year. So these are pretty strong rates of growth for these industries," said Dougherty.
Meanwhile, the trade, transportation and utilities industry has lost the most jobs over the year at 1,400.
