Vermont unemployment rate drops to 4.4 percent

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- The Vermont Department of Labor says the unemployment rate dropped slightly in February to 4.4 percent.

Last month's rate was down three-tenths of a percentage point from January and far lower than the national rate of 7.7 percent.

The Labor Department says February was the seventh straight month that the unemployment rate had not increased in Vermont.

Around the state, Vermont's unemployment rate ranged from a high of 8 percent in Newport to a low of 2.6 percent in the Warren-Waitsfield area.