The city of Berkeley’s unemployment rate reached 9.1 percent in January, a small increase from the December rate of 8.9 percent, according to preliminary figures released Friday by the California Employment Development Department.

This rise in unemployment marks the end of a continual drop that the city had seen since July 2011, as the rate fell steadily from 10.4 percent in July to 8.9 percent in December. December’s rate was the city’s lowest unemployment rate in nearly three years.

However, this year’s January rate comes in lower than the same month in 2011 and 2010, which were 10.5 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Berkeley’s unemployment rate in January 2009 was 8.5 percent.

Like Berkeley’s, the state of California’s unemployment rate had also been declining since July, but in the state, that drop continued into January. The state’s unemployment rate in January was 10.9 percent, the lowest level the state has seen in almost three years.

The national unemployment rate in January was 8.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.