Delaware’s unemployment rate remains the same for the third consecutive month.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate holds steady at 5.4% - unchanged from both February and January. But it’s a full point higher than in March 2025 when it was 4.4%.
The U.S. unemployment rate was at 4.3% in March down from 4.4% a month earlier.
Area unemployment rates were mostly lower in March with Newark the only one higher while Dover’s stayed the same.
Delaware’s labor force participation rate, which is the share of residents working or looking for work, hit a record low of 59.1% in March. This data stretches back to 1976.
The decline in large part reflects the size of the state’s population of residents 65 and older who account for roughly 30% of the 16 and older civilian population.
The state’s prime working-age residents – 25 to 54 – remain highly engaged with a labor force participation rate of 86.3% compared to the national rate of 84.1%.
There were 27,500 unemployed Delawareans in March, down 400 from February, but it was still higher than the 22,400 in March 2025.
Meanwhile the seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment was higher in March at 496,000 up from 495,000 in February with Construction and Professional and Business Services leading the charge.
Since March 2025, Delaware has seen a net loss of 400 total nonfarm jobs which is a drop of 0.1%, while nationally, jobs have increased by 0.1% during the same period.
