The Daily Freeman is reporting the rate of unemployment reported in counties throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills was about a percentage point lower last month than a year earlier, according to state Department of Labor data released November 20. Greene County had an October 2018 jobless rate of 3.5 percent, down from 4.7 percent in October 2017. Columbia County reported an October 2018 jobless rate of 2.7 percent, down from 3.5 percent one year earlier. According to the Labor Department unemployment rates in October 2018 were 3.2 percent in Ulster County, down from 4.3 percent in October 2017. Dutchess County's unemployment rate last month was 3.1 percent, a decrease from 4.2 percent the year before. The highest unemployment rate statewide in October was 5.3 percent in Bronx County. The statewide jobless rate in October 2018 was 3.6 percent. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.