The drop in the jobless rate during August continued a trend toward improving unemployment that began during March and has continued throughout the summer, the state Labor Department reported today.
The jobless rate last month was the lowest unemployment level for any August since 2008, but remained well above the relatively low levels of unemployment that the region enjoyed during most of the 1990s and the 2000s, when rates hovered between 4 percent and 6 percent.
With the region creating jobs at a 0.9 percent annual pace during August, more workers decided to start looking for a job. Roughly 2,600 new workers began looking for jobs last month, compared to a year ago, but the local job market was more than able to absorb them.
Nearly 9,000 more workers were employed last month than during August 2012, while the ranks of the unemployed dropped by more than 6,000 people.
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