The Daily Freeman is reporting unemployment rates in in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Catskills rose during the month of February, according to state Department of Labor data released March 27. It was the fourth consecutive month in which the jobless rates in local counties were generally higher than in the corresponding month a year earlier. Unemployment rose in both Greene and Columbia counties. In Greene, the jobless rate was 6.4 percent in February, up from 6.2 percent the year before. In Columbia, unemployment rose from 4.8 percent in 2017, to 5 percent, last month. Similar increases were reported in Delaware, Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties, as well. The statewide unemployment rate in February was 5.1 percent, down from 5.3 percent in 2017. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.