Santa Clarita’s jobless rate fell to 5.2 percent in August as teachers, administrators and social workers across the county started to return from their summer break.

The August numbers reflected a slight improvement over Santa Clarita’s 5.3 percent rate for July, but it was a big improvement over last year’s 6.3 percent rate for August.

Los Angeles County saw similar results. The county’s month-over-month jobless rate held steady at 8.1 percent but fell nearly 2 full points from last August’s 9.9 percent unemployment rate.

Statewide unemployment was even at 7.4 percent (down from last August’s 8.9 percent), while the nation’s jobless rate fell to 6.1 percent in August from 6.2 percent in July and 7.2 percent in August 2013.

Government jobs, which include public school teachers, added 2,400 positions to payrolls in August while private education and health services added 4,300. Health care and social assistance added another 3,100.

Professional and business services grew by a net of 6,600 jobs over the month, mostly in the administrative, support and waste services subsector (up 7,100). The gains were partially offset by cutbacks in scientific and technical services.

Other industries to see modest gains were information; trade, transportation and utilities; miscellaneous services; financial activities and construction. Mining and logging were unchanged.

The downside of the end of summer was felt by the leisure and hospitality sector, which constricted by 600 jobs. Manufacturing also fell by 100.

For the year (August 2013 to August 2014), Los Angeles County has seen the biggest gains in professional and business services, which added 31,800 positions, followed by private education and health services, up 20,700.

Other winners over the year were leisure and hospitality (up 7,900); trade, transportation and utilities (up 7,000); construction (up 6,600); information (up 4,800); other services (up 3,600); government (up 1,200); and mining and logging (up 300). Financial activities were unchanged.

The county’s only loser over the last 12 months has been manufacturing, which slashed 15,500 jobs from payrolls. Of those, 10,500 positions were involved in the manufacture of nondurable goods and 5,000 in durable goods.