RALEIGH - The state's unemployment rate is the lowest is has been in a year -- but not by much.

The March jobless figure is down to 9.2 percent, from the February figure of 9.4 percent. Larry Parker with the Commerce Department says there is some bright spots in the statistics.

"We gained 75,300 jobs over the year, a little over 141,000 over the last two years and since February 2010 we are up over 208,000 jobs."

Since March of last year, the rate has hovered between 9.2 and 9.6 percent. The national rate for March -- 7.6 percent.