Yamhill County’s jobless rate is slowly inching downward, although in October it still remained high. The county’s October unemployment rate was 11.6 percent, according to a Monday press release from regional economist Patrick O’Connor.

September’s unemployment rate was 11.9 percent, so the county is posting some small improvement. October’s number is not better than it was a year ago, when Yamhill County’s jobless rate was only 7.2 percent.

The state saw an unemployment rate of 11.3 percent in October, still lower than the county’s, which has held true since the recession began.

Non-farm employment increased more than usual between September and October, with the private sector creating 750 jobs and government creating 440, for a total of 1,190 new jobs. Many of the government jobs have been in response to the H1N1 influenza epidemic.

Since October 2008, Yamhill County has lost 2,140 jobs. The only sector to gain new jobs was education and health services, which added 90 jobs since October last year.

For more about Yamhill County’s employment situation, see Wednesday’s News-Register.