Federal government jobs numbers released Thursday found the state’s unemployment rate in 2018 fell to 4.1 percent amid a decade of job growth following the great recession of 2008.

New York’s unemployment rate in January was essentially unchanged from December at 3.9 percent. The national unemployment rate stands at 4 percent.

“New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the New York State economy continued to grow last year. In 2018, our annual private sector job count exceeded 8.1 million, a new annual high, and the state’s jobless rate reached 4.1 percent, a new record low,” said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, Director of the New York State Department of Labor’s Division of Research and Statistics.

Economists have pointed to the New York City area largely fueling the economic recovery amid a population boom. Upstate New York has over the last several decades struggled to retain jobs and population, meanwhile.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted the report, pointing to his administration’s efforts on economic development that’s focused on regional programs.

“These numbers are proof positive of the success of our long-term strategy of boosting economic progress across every corner of the state rather than in just a few regions, as has been the case in decades past,” he said. “This success is bolstered by the strength of bottom-up, regionally focused economic development and transformative investments in infrastructure and new and emerging industries to support generations of future economic growth.”