Vermont’s unemployment rate continues to decline.
The state Labor Department says the rate for February dropped a tenth of a percentage point to 5.6 percent.
That’s a decrease of one and one-tenth of a percentage point from a year ago.
The Labor Department says the last increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was in April 2009 when the rate was 7.3 percent.
Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan said Friday that the numbers are encouraging even though Vermont is still experiencing the effects of elevated unemployment and under-employment compared to its long-term economic history.
Around the state the jobless rate ranged from 3.8 percent in Warren-Waitsfield to 9.7 percent in Newport in February.