By Joseph Edelen

DOVER — During the first two months of 2024, Delaware’s unemployment rate reached its closest mark to national levels since last May.

The state’s 4% rate in February was a notch under the country’s 3.9% level, mirroring the First State’s number from this time last year, according to the Department of Labor’s monthly report.

In January, Delaware registered a 4.1% rate, which was above the 3.7% nationwide tally. Further, there were 20,300 unemployed Delawareans in February compared to 20,700 in the previous month.

Delaware’s recent labor statistics show that employment in the state’s leisure, hospitality and government sectors grew the most month-over-month.

For leisure and hospitality, employment grew by 700 from January to February. The total government sector growth represented about 300 employees, which consisted of 200 in municipal governments and 100 in state, while federal employment in this sector remained largely unchanged.

Sectors that lost employment in Delaware included the construction, durable goods manufacturing and trades, transportation and utilizes, which lost about 100 employees.

At the city and county level, the state’s labor statistics remained consistent in recent months.

New Castle County’s tallied a 3.8% unemployment rate in February, compared to 3.8% in January, according to the Department of Labor. When breaking that number down, Wilmington’s levels dropped from 6.3% to 5.7% month-over-month, though Newark’s jumped from 3.2% to 3.9%.

In Kent County, unemployment levels dropped 0.2 percentage points to 4.4%; this change was mirrored in the capitol city of Dover, as its rate equaled 5.7% in February.

While the Department of Labor does not provide city-specific statistics for Sussex, the county’s rate also dropped in February, from 4.5% to 4.3%.

In its release of the state’s monthly labor report, the Department of Labor noted that annual changes were made to Delaware’s employment and unemployment estimates for 2023. This is known as benchmarking, which is performed annually by the agency’s Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information.

According to the March 8 revisions for last year, the state’s seasonally adjusted workers was changed from 484,300 to 483,700. Similarly, the estimate of unemployed Delawareans clarified there being 20,100 residents out of work, which was down by 1,400 from original projections.