TIFTON — Georgia’s unemployment rate for August has climbed to 8.1 percent, an increase from 7.7 percent in July and the second-highest jobless rate in the country, with only Mississippi being worse.

While seasonally adjusted jobless rates for individual counties have not all been released yet, Tift County’s unemployment rate is expected to remain at 8.6 percent, which is higher than the state, says the Ga. Department of Labor.

Despite Georgia’s higher jobless rate, the state had “good job growth,” said Labor Commissioner Mark Butler. He said the state had 24,700 new jobs since July and 79,300 more jobs than a year earlier while layoffs declined 27 percent.

Meanwhile, the Athens Banner-Herald reports that Democrat Jason Carter and his Republican rival Gov. Nathan Deal are tangling over the rise in the jobless rate.

“This is disastrous news for families all across Georgia who are suffering the consequences of Gov. Deal’s failed policies,” said Carter, the Democratic candidate for governor.

Deal blamed the August rate on an influx of out-of-state job seekers and what he called “faulty” data, saying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics routinely adjusts Georgia’s rate downward six months after reports are released.