Delaware’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March 2023 was 4.4%, down from 4.6% in February 2023. There were 22,000 unemployed Delawareans in March 2023 compared to 21,900 in March 2022, the Delaware Department of Labor reported.
The national unemployment rate was 3.5% in March 2023, down from 3.6% in February 2023. In March 2022, the US unemployment rate was 3.6%, while Delaware’s rate was 4.4%. Delaware has seen one of the nation’s weakest job recoveries from the worst days of the pandemic.
In March 2023, seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment was 483,400, up from 480,800 in February 2023. Since March 2022, Delaware’s total nonfarm jobs have increased by a net gain of 13,500, a rise of 2.9%. Nationally, jobs during that period increased by 2.7%.
The drop in the jobless rate comes as federal Covid-19-related benefits end.
The state Labor Department reported that total employment has risen by nearly 15,000 jobs since February 2020, just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The gains came despite fewer people working in service jobs and hospiality. Both areas have been coping with a labor shortage. Possible factors incude a smaller number of younger workers, Covid-related benefits, a lack of childcare, early retirements and some workers moving on to openings in other sectors of the economy.
