Colorado employers added nearly 9,000 jobs from September to October, according to recently released state Department of Labor and Employment figures.

At the same time, the state’s unemployment rate dipped to 8.1 percent, down from 8.3 percent in September and 8.9 percent in October 2010. Colorado’s jobless figures are better than the October national average of 9 percent, an improvement from the 9.7 percent of a year ago.

“Some positive trends are beginning to emerge on the Colorado jobs front,” Ellen Golombek, executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, said in a prepared statement. “While we still have a ways to go to recover all of the jobs lost due to the Great Recession, job creation today is stronger than it was a year ago. We’ve added over 30,000 jobs since the beginning of 2011.”

In the south metro area, Arapahoe and Douglas counties both are faring better than Colorado as a whole, state numbers show.

While Arapahoe County’s 7.8 percent jobless rate was stagnant from September, it marked an improvement over the 8.5 percent figure from October 2010.

Meanwhile, Douglas County continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in the immediate metro area. The county’s rate of 6.1 percent was down from 6.2 percent a month earlier and 6.8 percent a year ago.

In Colorado, nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 8,800 from September to October, according to the state’s survey of business establishments. Government added 900 payroll jobs and the private sector added 7,900.

Other highlights of the report released Nov. 22:

Over the year, the average work week for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased from 34.4 to 35.4 hours, and average hourly earnings increased from $23.83 to $24.30.

The largest over-the-month private sector job gains in October were in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and construction. The largest decline was in manufacturing.

Over the year, nonfarm payroll jobs increased 32,700 with an increase of 31,400 in the private sector and an increase of 1,300 in government.

Over the year, the number of Coloradans participating in the labor force increased 25,000, total employment increased 42,400 and the number of unemployed decreased 17,400.