The Washington Department of Employment Security has released unemployment data for the month of February.

Washington’s preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2014 was 6.4 percent.

The revised estimated January 2014 unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. According to estimates, the number of unemployed people fell by 1,700 in February 2014 compared to January 2014.

At the same time, the number of employed people rose by an estimated 11,500. Overall, this amounted to an increase of 9,800 people in the labor force.

The preliminary February 2014 unemployment rate is 0.8 percentage points below the February 2013 rate of 7.2 percent.

The unemployment rate for Kitsap County for February was 7.1 percent up from 6.2 in January.

For more information, call Paul Turek, labor economist at 360-407-2306.