Delaware’s unemployment rate moved higher again in August.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in August was at 4.3% - up from 4.1% in July, and considerably higher than August 2024 when it sat at 3.7%.
The national unemployment rate last month was also at 4.3%.
Tom Dougherty is the chief of the Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information. He says the unemployment increase is a 2025 trend.
"We've had a steadily rising unemployment rate starting in January, and we did have another increase earlier this year that was, I believe 0.2,” said Dougherty. “But what we're having here is just since basically January, we're seeing an increased number of unemployed Delawareans."
Local unemployment numbers were all higher in August with the exception of Newark, and all of those numbers were higher than in August 2024.
The news was better on the jobs front according to Dougherty.
"As far as jobs go, we're up 3,500 jobs over the year, which is in percentage terms is a 0.7% increase in jobs, and it's kind of slowing down a little bit. And nationally it's been slowing down as well. Nationally, jobs over the same period are up 0.8% points," said Dougherty.
The Leisure & Hospitality industry saw the biggest gains month over month with a 600 job increase in August, while the Private Education & Health industry reported the biggest yearly gain at 2,100.
On the flip side, government jobs took the biggest hit over the past month, losing three hundred positions, and Professional & Business Services recorded the largest loss over the year - 600 jobs.
