The state unemployment rate for March was 6.5 percent, the highest in 26 years, the Kansas Department of Labor reported Friday.

The jobless rate also was up from February’s 6.2 percent, and March 2008, which was 4.2 percent.

The last time the unemployment rate in Kansas was this high was in March 1983 when it was 7.1 percent.

For the Lawrence area, unemployment was at 5.5 percent, the same as in February and up from 3.7 percent in March 2008.