Metro Atlanta’s unemployment rate ticked down another notch to 9.0 percent in February.

The Georgia Department of Labor announced Thursday the jobless rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point from a revised mark of 9.1 percent in January. The unemployment rate in metro Atlanta last February was 9.9 percent.

The state says the jobless rate fell because of fewer layoffs in manufacturing, construction, trade, and administrative and support services.

Athens still has the lowest unemployment rate in Georgia at 7.0 percent, while the Dalton area has the highest at 12.3 percent.

Earlier this month, the labor department announced Georgia’s unemployment rate had fallen for the seventh consecutive month to 9.1 percent. That was the lowest mark since March of 2009.