The Delaware Department of Labor Friday released revised employment figures that now show job growth in 2019 was lower than first estimated.
[Not a valid template]On the plus side, the unemployment rate dropped, due to smaller-than-expected gains in total population in the state. The Census Bureau estimated the state’s population at about 961,000 as of 2018
“The 10,000 jobs gained in 2018 turned out to be vastly overstated,” the department noted in its latest employment report.
Once payroll figures, rather than estimates were used, the number fell from 10,000 jobs to 3,800.
The overstating may have continued for January, with Delaware reporting a job gain out of proportion with the 2018 figures. The department cited a puzzling 1,800 gain in construction jobs as evidence of the disparity.
Earlier figures indicated a modest 2 percent growth in construction, a sector that has struggled to find workers.
At the same time, figures showing the smaller-than-estimated gain in population led to downward adjustments in the state’s jobless rate.
Delaware’s unemployment rate was revised lower every month from June 2017 through December 2018, by as much as four-tenths percent. The January 3.5 percent rate matches the revised November 2018 rate, which is the lowest for the state since 2007.
The number of unemployed residents fell below 17,000, also for the first time since 2007. That 20,000 fewer than the peak in 2010.
Delaware’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January 2019 was 3.5 percent down from 3.6 percent in December 2018.
The nation’s unemployment rate was 4 percent in January 2019, up from 3.9 percent in December 2018. In January 2018 the US unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, while Delaware’s rate was also 4.1 percent.
In January 2019, seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment was 466,700, up from 464,200 in December 2018.
Since January 2018, Delaware’s total nonfarm jobs have increased by a net gain of 7,400, a rise of 1.6 percent. Nationally, jobs during that period increased by 1.9 percent.
