NORWICH – Chenango County’s 8.2 percent unemployment rate in December edged closer to matching a record 8.3 percent, set back in 1994, and exceeded both the state’s and the nation’s for a second month in a row.

According to data released Thursday by the state Labor Department, of the county’s 24,500 resident labor force, 2,000 people were unemployed last month, 400 more than in November.