State labor officials say Georgia’s unemployment rate has dropped 8.6 percent, its lowest level in the past four years.

Georgia’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate for February was the lowest since January 2009, down from 8.7 percent in January, according to a release Thursday from the Georgia Department of Labor.

Georgia employers have continued to create jobs and lay off fewer workers, State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in the release.

“In fact, there were fewer workers laid-off and filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance in February than since before the beginning for the Great Recession in 2007,” Butler said.

There were 3,975,700 jobs in February, an increase of 19,300 from 3,956,400 in January, according to the release. Most of the job growth came in professional and business services, education and health care, and information services.

-- Staff reports