Unemployment is up slightly in Delaware for the first time in a while.
The First State’s jobless rate peaked at just under 16 percent last May and was steadily declining until last month.
Delaware’s Department of Labor reports an increase in unemployment in December from 5.1 to 5.3 percent.
The rate was much lower at the same time in 2019, resting at 4 percent.
And there were about 5,800 more unemployed Delawareans last month than there were at the same time the previous year.
Nearly a fifth of that job loss came in the leisure and hospitality sector.
The city of Wilmington has the highest unemployment rate in the state at 8.4 percent, followed by Dover at 7.4 percent.
The state did add about 900 jobs last month for a total of 429,500, but it’s still just under 8 percent less than the year before.
Delaware’s uptick in unemployment came alongside a national rate which held at 6.7 percent.
