EVERETT – Snohomish County’s economy continued to improve in March, adding 12,200 jobs in comparison to year-ago figures, economists said Tuesday.

The jobless rate also dropped by two-tenths of a percentage point last month.

The state Employment Security Department reported that the county’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in March, down from 4.9 percent in February.

Donna Thompson, a labor economist with the agency, said Snohomish County’s job growth continues to be among the fastest in the state. On an annual basis, the county’s growth rate was 5.5 percent, compared with 3.4 percent for the state, Thompson said.

“March may have come in like a lion, with cold, blustery rain, but it certainly didn’t dampen the heated job growth in Snohomish County,” Thompson said. “Sixteen hundred jobs were added during the month, bringing the total of nonfarm jobs to 234,900.”

Jobs at restaurants and bars led the gains. But many other areas also added workers, Thompson said.

She noted that county’s 4.7 percent unemployment rate beat the state’s 5 percent rate and the nation’s 4.8 percent.

“I’d say we’re looking real good,” she said.

Thompson noted that rising oil prices are fueling the fires of inflation, but they may make the Boeing Co.’s more fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliners more popular with airlines.

“It bodes well for manufacturing here,” she said.