Kansas Department of Labor

Topeka ? The Kansas unemployment rate rose two-tenths of a point to 3.9 percent in August as job growth in the state remained relatively flat, the Kansas Department of Labor said Friday.

Total nonfarm jobs grew by only 800 during the month, mostly due to losses in government-sector employment. On a seasonally adjusted basis, private-sector employment grew by 4,100.

The service-providing sector added nearly 2,000 jobs, but that growth was offset by temporary layoffs in the manufacturing sector, labor economist Emilie Doerksen said in an announcement from the department.

Over the month, there were 1,125 fewer people counted as employed, and 1,773 more people counted as unemployed. There were 10,175 new claims for unemployment benefits during the month.

Since August 2016, the agency said, Kansas has lost 9,000 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs, including 6,300 private-sector jobs.

The job market in Douglas County fell two-tenths of a point in August, to 3.7 percent. That’s also down from 4 percent in August 2016.

The Topeka metropolitan area posted a 4 percent unemployment rate, down one-tenth of a point from July and down from 4.3 percent last year.

The Wichita area, at 4.8 percent, continued to have the highest jobless rate of any metropolitan area in Kansas, but that was down from 4.9 percent in July and 5.2 percent the previous year.

The Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area posted a 4.1 percent jobless rate, up a tenth of a point from July but down from 4.2 percent a year ago.

The Manhattan area had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.4 percent, down from 3.7 percent in July and 3.8 percent a year ago.