AUSTIN (AP)  — The Texas unemployment rate dropped slightly to 8.1 percent in September, fueled by modest job growth.

Numbers released by the Texas Workforce Commission on Thursday indicate the latest unemployment figure, down from 8.3 percent in August, is the lowest rate for the state so far in 2010.

Texas added 3,700 new jobs in September and most of those positions were in the service industries. The state has gained a total of 152,800 jobs since September 2009.

Texas Workforce Commissioner Andres Alcantar calls the job growth in manufacturing and other industries encouraging.

The state's lowest metro unemployment rate last month was 5.1 percent in the Midland area. The highest unemployment rate in Texas was in the McAllen-Edinburg-Mission region, at 11.2 percent.