TOPEKA – The unemployment rate in Ellis County dropped to a miniscule 2.3 percent in April, according to the latest figures from the Kansas Department of Labor.

The jobless rate in the county fell to 2.3 percent from 2.7 percent in February.

Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.8 percent, down from 4.9 percent in March and down from 5.5 percent in April 2013.

Kansas gained 16,900 seasonally adjusted private-sector jobs, an increase of 1.5 percent since last year, and 16,800 nonfarm jobs, a 1.2 percent increase. Since last month, Kansas gained 1,900 seasonally adjusted private-sector jobs and 2,500 nonfarm jobs, both with increases of 0.2 percent.

“More Kansans are working now than ever before, and the state continues to build on its private-sector job growth,” Secretary of Labor Lana Gordon said. “These are strong indicators of a vibrant Kansas workforce.”

Unemployment is low across all of northwest Kansas, with Logan and Ness counties boasting a jobless rate of just 2.2 percent — the lowest in the state. Rooks and Osborne counties have the highest rates of unemployment in the area at 3.8 percent.