Delaware jobless rate now below 7%
Delaware’s unemployment rate for March remained flat at 6.9%. However, it’s the first time the jobless rate has hit below 7% for two months in a row since January 2009.
Delaware’s numbers traditionally are released a few weeks after the federal unemployment rate, which is 8.2%. There were 30,300 Delawareans unemployed in March. That’s 2,000 less than the number of people who were jobless in March 2011.
Delaware’s largest city, Wilmington, had the highest jobless rate at 11.1%. Newark had a 5.5% rate, while Dover had an 8.7% rate. Kent County ranked the highest, Sussex County had an 8% rate, while New Castle County was at 7.2%.
Former Governor Ruth Ann Minner was leaving office in January 2009 as the full impact of the recession was being felt in Delaware. The December 2008 rate was 6.5%, but in January 2008 the jobless rate in Delaware was at 3.8%.
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