ST. PAUL — Minnesota’s unemployment rate has dropped again, coming in at 3.8 percent in September.

It brings the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate below 4 percent for the seventh out of nine months of the year. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development released the figure Thursday.

The Minnesota rate compares to a national average of 5.1 percent for last month.

The latest figures estimate that roughly 114,000 people considered part of the labor force are without a job. The labor force participation rate is at 69.7 percent.

Area employment

In August, Mower County’s unemployment rate was 2.9 percent, and Austin’s was 3.1 percent, though September’s numbers have not been released.

Freeborn County’s August unemployment was 3.5 percent, and Albert Lea’s was 3.6 percent. Steele County’s was 3.3 percent, and Olmsted County’s was 2.8 percent.