Unemployment rates in the region dropped in August, bringing two local counties to a level below the state’s average.

McKean and Potter counties both saw an improvement.

According to the state Department of Labor & Industry Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, the August rate for Bradford was 10.2%, an improvement over the July rate of 12.6%, and slightly better than the state’s rate of 10.3%.

Potter County’s rate was 10.1%, while one month earlier, the county’s rate was 12.3%.

In Elk County, the rate for August was 13%, down from 15.9% the prior month.

Cameron County’s rate was also 13%, down from 16.1% the prior month.

Statewide, Potter County is tied for 36th place in the ranking of unemployment rates, with Berks, Cambria, Schuylkill and Tioga, while McKean follows in 41st place. Elk and Cameron counties are tied for 63rd place. Philadelphia County was in last place with an unemployment rate of 14.7%. Centre County was in first place with a rate of 6%.

In the North Central Workforce Development area, the total unemployment rate was 10.5%. This includes the four local counties, along with Clearfield and Jefferson.

The Center also had information available on the number of initial and continued claims per week. The latest information, for the week ending Sept. 19, showed Cameron County with 26 initial claims, Elk County with 100, McKean County with 36 and Potter County with 28.

For continued claims the week ending Sept. 19, Cameron County had 193, Elk County had 1,569, McKean County had 1,024 and Potter County had 386.

While the rates are showing improvement, none of the local counties are back to the numbers from before the pandemic began. The Center released data from August of 2019 for comparison to the current unemployment rates. In Cameron County, last year’s unemployment rate for August was 5.4%, Elk County’s was 4.9%, McKean County’s was 5.3% and Potter County’s was 5.9%.