Topeka ? The Kansas unemployment rate rose in July for the fourth straight month, to 4.6 percent, as both the public- and private-sector job markets shed workers.

The Kansas Department of Labor reported a net loss, on a seasonally adjusted basis, of 4,300 nonfarm jobs in July, with the biggest losses occurring in government services as well as education and health care services.

The report showed a seasonal loss of 19,800 government jobs in July, or 7.9 percent, mainly in local school employment. The education and health care sector also lost 1,600 jobs, or 0.8 percent.

There were 11,553 new claims for unemployment in July, an increase of 224 from June.

Over the past year, the Department of Labor said, total employment in Kansas has grown by less than half a percent, while private-sector employment has grown less than 1 percent.

The Wichita metropolitan area saw the biggest jump in unemployment, half a percentage point, to 5.7 percent.

In Douglas County, unemployment climbed four-tenths of a point, to 4.8 percent. That’s also higher than July 2014, when it was 4.7 percent.

Tyler Tenbrink, the department’s senior labor economist, said one factor that may affect future job growth is stagnant growth in the state’s civilian labor force, which has shrunk 1.4 percent over the last year, to 1.479 million.