Topeka ? State officials on Thursday said there was some positive news in Kansas’ June unemployment report.

The June jobless rate of 6.7 percent was up from 6.3 percent in May and down from 6.9 percent in June 2010. The June seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.6 percent was unchanged from May and down from 7 percent in June of last year.

Private sector jobs increased by 5,600 from May, while government jobs decreased by 9,600.

“The positive news in this month’s report is the growth in private sector jobs in Kansas. The job losses in the government sector were primarily seasonal employment losses, which are to be expected,” said Kansas Department of Labor Secretary Karin Brownlee.

Yuan Gao, a Kansas labor department economist, said: “The Kansas labor market saw little change in June this year. Future monthly data will show whether this is a temporary pause in employment growth or an actual shift to anemic growth. However, with the employment gains in manufacturing and in health care and social assistance, we think this is more likely to be a temporary pause in a slow recovery.”

The national unemployment rate for June was 9.2 percent.

The Douglas County unemployment rate was 6.3 percent, an increase from 5.7 percent in May and 6.2 percent from June 2010.

Statewide, there were 18,884 initial claims for unemployment benefits in June, slightly more than the 18,708 initial claims in May, and up from 15,551 in June 2010.

There were 195,006 continued claims in June, down from 235,488 in May 2011 and a decrease from 263,123 in June 2010. T