For the third month in a row when compared to the same month last year, the number of people working in St. Lawrence County went up while the number of people receiving unemployment went down.

Figures from the state Department of Labor show the unemployment rate fell .7 percent, to 7 percent last month from 7.7 percent in June 2014.

The actual number went from 3,600 to 3,300.

There were 42,900 people with jobs last month compared to 43,400 a year ago, the DOL said.

To our east in Franklin County, the unemployment rate fell by .4 percent from 6.7 last year to 6.3 percent last month. That translates to 1,400 and 1,300 people, respectively.

Their number of employed people stayed flat at 19,300.

To our west in Jefferson County, the rate fell .9 percent from 6.8 last year to 5.9 last month. The respective totals are 3.3 percent and 2.8 percent.

They had 44,900 people working in June 2014 and 44,700 in June of this year.

In May, the St. Lawrence County unemployment rate fell by nearly a full percentage point to 6.6 percent from 7.4 percent in May 2014. The number of people receiving the dole fell from 3,500 in May 2014 to 3,200 in May 2015. The number of people working went from 44,000 in May 2014 to 44,700 this year.

According to DOL figures, the April unemployment rate in St. Lawrence County was 7.1 percent for a total of 3,400 people. That’s down from 7.7 percent and 3,700 people in April 2014. That month, 44,400 people had jobs, up from 44,200 in April 2014, the DOL report says.

There were about 3,500 people receiving unemployment in St. Lawrence County in March, compared to 4,300 in March 2014. That translates to respective unemployment rates of 7.5 percent in March and 8.8 percent in March 2014.

There were 43,600 people in the workforce in March and 44,100 in March 2014, a .5 percent drop, the Department of Labor said.

There were about 4,000 people receiving unemployment insurance in February, down from 4,500 in February 2014. That represents a .5 percent drop.

The unemployment rate was 8.4 percent, down .9 percent from 9.3 percent in February 2014. The number of people working last month was 43,300 compared to 43,900 in February 2014, a .7 percent decrease.

According to DOL statistics, the unemployment rate in January was 8.7 percent, compared to 9.3 percent a year ago, a .6 percent drop. However, January's rate was an increase from the Dec. 2014 rate was 7.2 percent. About 4,000 people received unemployment benefits in January, a .4 percent decrease from one year ago when 4,400 were on the dole and roughly 3,300 people in December 2014.