Albany

The Capital Region's unemployment rate fell half a percentage point to 3.6 percent in May — an 11-year low for the month — as the number of unemployed fell proportionately faster than the number of people working.

The state Labor Department's report, released Tuesday, found that while the number of employed dropped by 1,400 to 431,900 from a year earlier, those unemployed and actively seeking work fell by 2,300 to just 16,000.

The figures cover the five-county metro area of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.

The Capital Region added 4,100 jobs over the past year, with the bulk of those — 3,900 — in the private sector. Education and health services, which added 2,200 jobs to 97,000, and leisure and hospitality, which increased by 1,200 to 42,900, showed some of the strongest gains.

Professional and business services lost 400 jobs, leaving the sector with 55,900 jobs.

The 16,000 residents unemployed were the fewest for May since 2001, according to Labor Department figures. The workforce, at 447,900, was at a four-year low, as were the residents —431,900 —who were employed.