Anyone looking for Fort Lauderdale nursing jobs may have had some luck last month.

During August, Florida's unemployment rate increased from 11.5 percent to 11.7 percent, which is higher than the national average of 9.6 percent. The most recent unemployment rate for the Ft. Lauderdale area has yet to be released, but the area had a rate of 10.4 percent during July.

The Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach had a total non-farm employment of 693,500 workers during August, which is up from 691,100 workers during July and a 1.3 percent decrease from last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Only three industries managed to add jobs throughout the last year. The education and health services industry fared the best, increasing by 2.1 percent between August 2009 and August 2010, for a total of 96,100 jobs.

The other services industry grew by 1.9 percent to 31,600 jobs and the trade, transportation and utilities industry increased by .3 percent to 158,700 jobs.

The government industry was responsible for most of the employment growth between July and August. The industry added 5,300 jobs over the month, increasing to a total of 99,800 workers.

That was followed by the trade, transportation and utilities industry, which added 900 jobs; the education and health services industry, which added 800 jobs; and the construction industry, which added 100 jobs. Employment in the information industry remained even over the month with 15,600 jobs.

On the flip side, the construction industry lost the most jobs when compared to last year, decreasing by 11 percent to 32,200 workers.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in employment include:

• Information by 7.1 percent
• Financial activities by 5 percent
• Leisure and hospitality by 2.9 percent
• Manufacturing by 1.6 percent
• Government by 1 percent
• Professional and business services by .4 percent

The leisure and hospitality industry lost the most jobs between July and August, decreasing by 2,700 workers to 72,700 employees. That was followed by the professional and business services industry, which lost 1,400 jobs over the month for a total of  110,700 workers.

In addition, the other services industry declined by 300 jobs, while the manufacturing industry lost 200 workers and the financial activities industry decreased by 100 employees.