The rate dropped from a revised 7.7 percent in November, to 7.6 percent in December.
That's its lowest point in four years according to the State Employment Security Department.
But Chief Labor Economist Joe Elling says the decline was mostly caused by a shrinking labor force, which artificially lowers the unemployment rate as unemployed job seekers quit bothering to find work.
He says the number of people in the labor force is declining even though our population is growing and we’ve regained more than half of the jobs lost during the recession.
Meanwhile, our state is seeing an increase in workers over the age of 54.
Elling says that's because the recession forced many older workers to postpone retirement.
Early numbers show also that the state lost 7,900 jobs last month, but Elling says that number will likely be revised when more survey data comes in.
