NEW: Unemployment rate falls to 10.2 percent

NEW: Unemployment rate falls to 10.2 percent

On the heels of an optimistic State of the State address by Governor Lincoln Chafee last night, the state got another bit of good news Thursday as the Department of Labor and Training announced that the unemployment rate in

Rhode Island dropped to 10.2 percent in the month of December.

The figure was two-tenths of a percentage point lower than November’s 10.4 rate and down from 11.0 at the same time in 2011.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Rhode Island still struggles in the category nationally, however, as the U.S. jobless rate for December was 7.8 percent.

The state said the was in part because of gains in the food service and educational sectors but came after 1,400 jobs were lost in construction and other service sectors.

All told, the state’s labor force totaled over 566,000 people in December, the largest number in two years.