St. Lawrence County is tied with Oswego County for the highest unemployment rate for June outside of New York City, but it’s still two full points below the rate in June 2013.

At 7.8 percent, the number of people in St. Lawrence County receiving unemployment benefits in June is up slightly from the 7.7 percent rate reported by the state Department of Labor in April and May, but significantly down from 9.2 percent in March. And a year ago, the rate stood at 9.8 percent.

Statewide, the only county in the state with a higher unemployment rate in June was the Bronx, which stood at 10.8 percent.

The number of people in St. Lawrence County on unemployment is estimated at 3,600, which is down by 1,000 since June 2013. The number of people with jobs is estimated at 43,200, up from 42,600 from June last year.

To our east, in Franklin County, the June unemployment rate was 6.9 percent, down from 7.3 percent in May and down from 8.8 percent in June last year.

To our west, in Jefferson County, the rate for June stood at 7.1 percent, down from 7.3 percent in May and down from 9.1 percent in June 2013.

Meanwhile sparsely populated Hamilton County, bordering St. Lawrence County on our southeast, has the lowest rate in the state, at 4.2 percent.