Austin’s unemployment rate fell last month to the lowest level of 2012.

September’s non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in Austin dropped to 4.7 percent, tying the rate in April, which is the lowest it has been since it hit 4.6 percent in November 2011, according to data released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. The rate also beats the 5.3 percent rate of September 2011.

There were 646 Austin residents looking for jobs in September, according to the data, compared to 13,045 employed.

September’s jobless rate in Mower County was 4.6 percent, slightly above the 2012 low of 4.5 percent in April and May. There are 988 people actively looking for work in the county, meaning there are only 342 outside of Austin.

The city’s 4.7 percent last month is well below Owatonna’s 5.4 percent, as well as Winona’s and Albert Lea’s, both at 5.8 percent. Rochester’s rate in September was 4.4 percent.

That national seasonally-adjusted average plunged to 7.8 percent, the lowest level since January 2009. Minnesota’s unemployment rate of 5.8 percent remains a full two percentage points better than the national average and just below the 5.9 percent in August.