The Daily Freeman is reporting unemployment rates in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills remain on the high side, the state Department of Labor reported March 30. The February unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in Greene County, up from 6.7 percent in January but well below the April peak of 14.8 percent. Greene's jobless rate in January 2020 was 5.1 percent. In Columbia County, the jobless rate was 5.8 percent in February, up from 5.5 percent the previous month and 3.8 percent in February 2020. Ulster County was 6.8 percent, up from 6.7 percent in January but far below the April 2020 peak of 14.6 percent, according to the labor department. Dutchess County had a 6.3 percent jobless rate in February, up from 6.1 percent in January, but down from the April peak of 14.1 percent. Before the COVID pandemic hit, Ulster and Dutchess counties had unemployment rates of 4.2 percent and 4 percent, respectively. The highest jobless rate in February was 17.7 percent in the Bronx. The lowest rate in the state was 5.3 percent in Tompkins County, which includes Ithaca. Read more in the Daily Freeman.