Delaware’s unemployment rate has gone up for a third straight month.
The rate rose one-tenth of a point again in September and is back to 3.5 percent where it started the year in January.
First State unemployment was at a 30-year low 3.2 percent for three consecutive months earlier this year.
The national unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percent last month and is now even with the Delaware rate for the first time in more than a year.
There were 600 more unemployed Delawareans in September than there were in August, but 200 less than September of last year.
Survey data shows an increase of about 8,000 jobs in Delaware in the past year with more than half of those new jobs coming in the past two months.
Those increases are being led by Education & Health and Leisure & Hospitality.