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New Jersey employers added 15,400 jobs in August, but the state’s unemployment rate also climbed 0.3 of a percentage point to 4% as more state residents reported that they were actively looking for work, state officials said on Thursday.

The employment data is derived through the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey conducted monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. People without jobs must be actively looking for work to be counted as unemployed. Those without jobs who are not looking for work are counted as having dropped out of the workforce.

The national unemployment rate also increased from 3.5% to 3.7% in August.

The data shows that hiring in New Jersey has averaged 12,700 new jobs per month over the past month, according to the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development. There were 13,800 new jobs added in July and 9,000 added in June.

The jobs report shows that total nonfarm New Jersey employment reached a seasonally adjusted level of 4,241,200 in August. Of the 15,400 total nonfarm jobs created in August, 12,200 were in the private sector and 3,200 were in the public sector.

The Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector added 5,400 jobs and the Education and Health Services sector added 4,200 jobs. Leisure and Hospitality (-1,000) and Manufacturing (-600) were the sectors that lost the most jobs.