New Hampshire’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February was 3.9 percent, according to the state Department of Employment Security.
That’s the lowest unemployment rate the state has reported since August of 2008, when the rate was at 3.8 percent and began its climb through the Great Recession to a June 2009 peak of 6.6 percent.
The February 2014 seasonally adjusted rate was 4.6 percent.
Seasonally adjusted estimates for February placed the number of employed residents at 714,840, an increase of 1,500 from the previous month and an increase of 6,410 from February of last year.
From January to February, the total labor force increased by 1,340 to 744,110 as more people returned to the job market.
The size of the state’s labor force peaked at 746,876 in March of 2009, and dipped to 734,669 in April, 2011 before beginning to rebound.
Nationally, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February was 5.5 percent, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the January rate, and a decrease of 1.2 percentage points from February of last year.
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