By Matt Bittle

DOVER — Delaware’s average monthly unemployment rate for 2020 fell from 8.3% to 7.9% based on revisions to the data.

In addition, according to statistics released Friday by the Delaware Department of Labor, 6% of Delawareans were out of work in January 2021, an increase of 0.1% from the month before.

The national unemployment rate was 6.3%.

In January 2020, the state’s unemployment level was 4.3%, while across the country, just 3.5% of the labor force did not have a job.

The annual revision, which is based on new data, shows employment levels were not as robust as they initially appeared for the last few months of 2020. On the other hand, the revision also adjusted the rate during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring, driving the overall job losses down.

“Seasonally adjusted, the number of unemployed was revised upward by 3,000 and the unemployment rate was revised up by 0.6 percent in December 2020. But for all of 2020 the average number of monthly unemployed was revised down 2,400,” Thomas Dougherty, chief of the Office of Occupational & Labor Market Information in the Department of Labor, wrote in an email.

Delaware’s unemployment rate for December was revised upward to 5.9%. Unemployment nationwide remained at 6.7% for that month.

The First State’s jobless rate skyrocketed from 4.8% to 13.4% from March to April last year. It remained at similar levels in May and June, before slipping down to 8.3% in July.

The initial figures from last year had the unemployment rate peak in May at 15.9%.

Delaware lost 23,000 jobs last year, a decline of 5%. About 9,200, or 40%, were in leisure and hospitality.

The United States as a whole saw a 6.1% drop in 2020.

Average weekly earnings here for January 2021 were $931.22, up from $906.18 one year prior.

Locally, unemployment for January was at 6.3% in New Castle County, 7.1% in Kent County and 6.2% in Sussex County. Unlike the state data, the county figures are not seasonally adjusted.

Prior to 2020, Delaware’s highest unemployment rate on record was 9.8% in 1976, the first year relevant job data is available. Similarly, before the pandemic, Delaware had never seen its jobless rate improve by more than 0.3% in a single month.

During the Great Recession, its worst point was 8.8%, coming in January 2010.