State unemployment unchanged for August but down slightly from year before.

State unemployment rate remained 9.3 percent in August, on a preliminary basis, unchanged from July, but down slightly from 9.4 percent in August 2010, acccording to the Employment Security Department. Although private sector jobs grew by 4200, public sectors jobs decreases by 400, leaving 321,300
workers unemployed in the state.

While Washington has added jobs for 12 consecutive months, those numbers overstate employment because the size of the workforce has actually shrunk by nearly 65,000 workers over the year. The preliminary national unemployment rate
for August is 9.1 percent,down from 9.6 percent the year before.