Delaware’s unemployment rate was up slightly in May.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.0% from 3.9% in April, and compared to 3.8% in May 2024.
The national unemployment rate last month was at 4.2% - unchanged from the previous month, and up from 4.0% in May 2024.
Area unemployment rates were steady in New Castle County, Newark and Middletown. They were up slightly in Dover, down slightly in Wilmington and Kent County and down 0.3% in Sussex County.
As for the state’s jobs numbers, seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment was 494,100, unchanged from April.
Last month saw construction jobs rise by 400, while government jobs dropped by 400.
Since May 2024, the state’s total nonfarm jobs have increased by 5,300 or 1.1%.
Nationally, jobs have also increased by 1.1% during that period.
Meanwhile, Delaware’s labor force participation in May grew by 0.1 percentage point to 59%.
That was the first month over month rate increase since April 2023, but the rate was still 3.4% lower than the U.S. rate of 62.7% and 0.7% lower than Delaware’s May 2024 number.
Also, both hourly and weekly earnings were up last month, and both have also risen since May 2024.
