Kleberg County seems to be bucking the trend with an increase in the number of jobs created at a time when neighboring counties continue to lose jobs with no end in sight.

Jobs from July to August increase by 374 while other neighboring counties recorded declines.

There were 15,877 jobs in Kleberg County for August, the latest available numbers, compared to 15,503 in July for an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent in August compared to an unemployment rate of 7.8 percent in July.

The county’s unemployment rate in August of 2008 was 4.6 percent.

Kleberg County’s labor force stands at 17,172 compared to 16,815 in July.

Nueces County recorded 151,999 jobs in August compared to 153,565 compared in July for a decline of 1,566 and an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent. Despite the loss of jobs in neighboring Nueces County, the 7.5 percent unemployment rate, down from 7.7 percent in July, was achieved because less people were seeking employment.

The Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes San Patricio and Aransas Counties recorded a 7.8 percent unemployment rate.

The latest figures from Jim Wells County show an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent.

“We keep increasing the number of jobs and the number of folks looking for employment, which is a reverse of the surrounding counties,” Dick Messbarger, the executive director of the local economic development council, said.

Kleberg County has the fourth largest workforce in the 12-county Coastal Bend Area. Nueces County is first with 164,304, followed by San Patricio County, 30,817, and Jim Wells County, 23,646.

The Texas unemployment rate is 8.1 percent and the national unemployment rate is 9.6 percent.

Education and health jobs along with military-related jobs and employment among various governmental agencies from local to the federal level continue to be the primary drivers of employment in Kleberg County.

The same trend is mirrored at the state level where education and health services employment grew by 5,200 jobs in August, following a gain of 8,600 jobs in July, Workfore officials said.