Local unemployment rates continued to drop in April, state officials said, and were lower than a year ago.

The state Department of Labor reported that the Cattaraugus County unemployment rate decreased more than a full percentage point in April to 3.5% from March, and the rate was half a point below the 4% reported in April 2024.

The labor force dropped by 1,000 people in April to 31,800, while the number of employed decreased by 600 to 30,700. The number of unemployed also decreased by about 400 to 1,100, as well as being down from 1,300 recorded in April 2024.

All rates are not adjusted for seasonal changes, while the number of workers is rounded to the nearest hundred.

New York State’s unemployment rate decreased half a point to 3.6% in April, while also being down three-tenths of a point from April 2024. The number of unemployed workers decreased by about 44,200 to about 360,300.

The highest county unemployment rate was 6.1% in Bronx County, followed by 5.9% in Hamilton County in the Adirondacks. The lowest county unemployment rate was 2.4% in Putnam and Saratoga counties, followed by a 2.5% rate in Rockland County.

The national unemployment rate was 4.2% in April — flat from March, but up from the 3.9% rate reported for April 2024. South Dakota had the lowest jobless rate in April at 1.8%, followed by North Dakota at 2.6%. The District of Columbia had the highest unemployment rate, 5.8%, followed by Nevada, 5.6%.

In total, 19 states had unemployment rates lower than the U.S. figure of 4.2 percent, six states and the District had higher rates and 25 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation. All rates come from surveys and methods created by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, and are not adjusted for seasonal variations.