The latest unemployment numbers from Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development offer an optimistic take on our state’s job economy: the unemployment rate has dropped for the first time in five months and the overall number of jobs in the Commonwealth shows that we’ve finally surpassed pre-recession employment levels.

The Massachusetts unemployment rate dropped to 6.5 percent in February, down from 6.7 percent in January, the rate it has been for the past four months. Massachusetts added 500 jobs in February and the number of jobs created in January was revised up to 18,900. Nationally the unemployment rate is 7.7 percent.