Unemployment rates fell in every county and major city in the Miami Valley last month, bringing unemployment down for the Dayton metro area to its lowest level since 2008, according to figures released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The metro area’s unadjusted October rate fell to 6.6 percent from 6.9 percent in the previous month — the lowest jobless rate for the area since April 2008 when it was 6.3 percent, state jobs figures show.

Meanwhile, total employment grew by 5,300, and there were 1,100 fewer unemployed workers in the metro area in October, according to the jobs report.

Seasonally adjusted figures, which pull out the the typical surge in holiday hiring just before the Christmas shopping season, also showed a decline in the unemployment rate, from 7.2 percent to 7 percent, and an increase of 2,100 in total employment, according to a statistical model developed by Regionomics, a Columbus-based workforce development and consulting firm.

“Even on an adjusted basis, the increase that you saw in the number of people working was larger than what we typically see going from September to October,” said Regionomics’ Bill LaFayette. “Employment increased more than what we would expect, and so did the size of the labor force. That means the unemployment rate is going down for the right reasons.”

Local area unemployment statistics mirrored the statewide trend in which the unemployment rate fell to 7 percent last month from 7.2 percent in September.

Ohio’s unemployment rate is now a full point below the national unemployment rate of 7.9 percent, and the 96,500 jobs the Buckeye State has added so far this year ranks the state No. 4 for total job growth, according to a separate report Tuesday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Ohio was among 37 states and the District of Columbia where employment rates fell last month despite a slight uptick in the national rate from 7.8 percent in September, the BLS reported. Seven states posted rate increases, and six states had no change.

Ohio’s October rate was down from 8.3 percent a year ago, and unemployment last month was down in 74 of 88 Ohio counties. County unemployment rates ranged from a low of 3.8 percent in Mercer County to a high of 11.5 percent in Pike County.

In the Miami Valley, Butler, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Warren counties all posted declines in their unemployment rates from the previous and the same month a year ago, according to the state jobs report.

Clark County saw the biggest month-to-month drop in unemployment to 6.3 percent from 6.9 percent in September. Clark counties rate was 8.4 percent a year ago.

The area’s largest county, Montgomery, saw the second- largest month-to-month drop to 6.9 percent from 7.3 percent over the same period. Montgomery’s rate was 9 percent a year ago.

Warren and Darke counties tied for the lowest October rates in the Miami Valley at 5.5 percent, and their rates were down .2 percent and .3 percent, respectively, from the previous month.

Among the major cities in the local area, Dayton saw its unemployment rate fall to 8 percent last month from 8.3 percent in September and 10.5 percent a year ago, according to the state jobs report.

Kettering’s jobless rate was 6 percent in October, down from 6.4 percent in the previous month and 7.8 percent a year ago.

Overall, the Dayton area continued to see positive hiring trends last month and even outperformed much larger metro areas in the state, LaFayette said.

“Your numbers (Dayton’s) actually looked better than they did over here (Columbus),” he said. “We saw the unemployment rate tick down because there was a smaller than usual increase in the labor force. Your numbers look pretty good when you look at the payroll numbers and the size of the labor force.”