Louisiana's unemployment numbers for February were released Friday. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics says the state jobless rate crept up to 7% in February. It was 6.9% in January.

But the state unemployment rate is down from 7.5 percent in February of 2011 when 158,200 Louisiana residents were listed as unemployed. Louisiana is also trending well below the national unemployment rate of 8.3%.

There was mixed news for the civilian work force as well. It jumped last month by 2,500 from January. But it was down 10,900 from February 2011. The civilian work force is defined by those either working or actively seeking jobs.

In all, 144,000 state residents were listed as unemployed last month, an increase from 141,900.

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