The Daily Freeman is reporting unemployment rates in seven local counties were lower in September than in the same month a year earlier, the state Department of Labor reported this week. Columbia County had the region’s lowest jobless rate last month at 3.7 percent, down from 4.3 percent a year ago. That also was the best in the state among the 24 counties not classified as part of metropolitan areas. In Greene County, the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, down from 6 percent in October 2014. There were similar decreases reported in Dutchess, Ulster and Delaware counties, as well. Statewide, the jobless rate in September was 4.8 percent, a full percentage point lower than the year prior, according to the Department of Labor.