SUPERIOR - Local unemployment rates released Wednesday by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development echoed the trend seen in Minnesota numbers last week: declines from July to August.

However, the numbers are not adjusted for normal seasonal variations, and remained several points higher than one year earlier.

Bayfield County had the lowest unemployment rate in northwestern Wisconsin, while Iron County had the highest rate.  Iron County's rate was the 7th-highest among the state's 72 counties.

Superior had the eighth-lowest unemployment rate among the 30 cities and villages where the state tracks unemployment.

The statewide unadjusted unemployment rate for August was 8.4 percent.

August unemployment rates, not seasonally adjusted:

Sources: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, www.deed.state.mn.us; Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, www.dwd.state.wi.us