Lewis County’s official unemployment rate is down a hair from last month, but is still dramatically higher than in 2008, and is more than double the rate at this time in 2007.

    Figures from the Washington State Employment Security Department show a 12.1 unemployment rate in Lewis County for September, down from 12.2 percent in August.

    Last month 3,820 people were unemployed in Lewis County out of a labor force of 31,510, according to state figures.

    Thurston County’s unemployment rate last month was 7.2 percent. Grays Harbor was listed as 11.9 percent, and Pacific County had 10.9 percent. Cowlitz County had the worst record in the state, with 12.9 percent.

    A year ago Lewis County’s unemployment rate was 7.1 percent. A year before that, during the height of the economic boom, Lewis County’s jobless rate was just 6 percent.

    The highest rate recorded in Lewis County this decade was 14.2 percent in March.

    Last month’s statewide jobless rate was 8.8 percent. The national unemployment rate in September hit 10 percent for the first time since the turn of the century.