The unemployment rate in Centre County is the lowest it has been in about a decade.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is at 3.3 percent. The last time the unemployment rate was that low was right before the recession in 2008. In the last 20 years, the highest unemployment rate in Centre County was 7 percent in 2011.

“You have more new businesses opening, which generates more economic activity, which causes more people to move to the region, which causes new growth, which causes more new businesses,” Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins said.

Higgins said industries including Penn State, entrepreneurial culture and agriculture have helped lower the numbers.