Florida jobless rate dips slightly again

The jobless rates fell in 29 states last month amid widespread employment gains while falling oil and coal prices continued to take a toll on energy-producing states.

Last month, the Midwest posted the lowest regional unemployment rate of 4.6 percent, while the West had the highest rate of 5.7 percent.

Among large cities in the greater Valley region, Palmdale had the highest unemployment in August at 9.3 percent, followed by Antelope Valley neighbor Lancaster at 7.8 percent.

Professional and business services reported 140,700 jobs in August and is on its way to surpassing manufacturing as the fourth-largest sector in the state, Kaza said. The biggest increase was in government, which added 2,800 jobs, a reflection of the start of the school year. The number of people unemployed in California was 1,163,000 – down by 17,000 over the month, and down by 222,000 compared with August of previous year .

August’s figure is also 1.6 percent lower than the year-ago estimate, according to the department’s analysis. Most sectors dropped, although government, information and education and health care services saw increases.

Nonfarm payroll jobs in Arkansas increased 5,900 in August and employment rose in six industry sectors and declined in five.

The last time Merced County’s unemployment rate was in the single digits was October 2007, according to Steven Gutierrez, labor market analyst with EDD.

Glenn County’s August unemployment rate was 8.2 percent, down a full point from 9.2 percent in July.

Arkansas’ unemployment rate is continuing to decrease.

During August 2014, 4.3 percent of Oklahoma’s labor force was jobless.

California’s unemployment rate decreased to 6.1 percent in August. The mining and logging sector, which includes oil and gas production, was down by 1,000 jobs. That translated into fewer people looking for work.