Maryland’s unemployment rate fell to 2.4% in May, down from 2.5% the month before, reaching the lowest unemployment rate for Maryland since 1976. That’s when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began releasing state unemployment figures.

Maryland’s unemployment rate a year earlier was 3.1%.

Virginia’s unemployment rate fell to 2.9% in May, down from 3.1% in April. That’s still higher than a year earlier, when Virginia’s unemployment rate was 2.5%.

Unemployment numbers are seasonally-adjusted.

Nebraska, New Hampshire and South Dakota all tied for the lowest state unemployment rate in May, at 1.9%. Nevada still has the highest state unemployment rate, at 5.4% in May.

Maryland has added 36,800 jobs in the past year, for a job growth rate of 1.4%. Virginia has gained a net 91,500 jobs in the past year, or a job growth rate of 2.3%.