The State Labor Department today released local area unemployment rates for August, as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor. The state’s unemployment rate was 9.1 percent last month. According to the department, during the past year the state added more than 130,000 private sector jobs, and the number of initial unemployment insurance claims decreased by 10 percent. In both Columbia and Greene counties the number of unemployed decreased, but the unemployment rate remains nearly one percent higher than the rates reported in August 2011. Hamilton County reported the lowest unemployment rate statewide (5.2 percent); Bronx County reported the highest rate (13.1 percent).