AUSTIN (AP) - The Texas unemployment rate has edged up slightly to 8.5 percent for August as the state lost jobs for the first time this year.

The Texas Workforce Commission said Friday the jobless rate increased from 8.4 percent in July, and the state lost 1,300 total nonfarm jobs.

Commission Chairman Tom Pauken says Texas “continues to feel the pressures of a stagnant national economy.” The national unemployment rate is at 9.1 percent.

Pauken says an uptick in private sector jobs was offset by losses in government positions.

Midland maintained the lowest local unemployment rate at 4.8 percent. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area still has the highest rate at 12.6 percent, although that’s down from the revised July figure of 13.1 percent.

Check out our Now Hiring section for a list of some available jobs in the area.

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