Boston.com has a Globe article that says the state has announced that the Mass. unemployment rate dipped to 8.8 percent because 4,000 private-sector jobs were added last month. The report from the state marks the seventh straight month of improvement in the employment numbers. The US jobless figure is 9.6 percent. Read the boston.com article here.

In August, the Bay State’s private sector added 4,000 jobs with the largest gains in the leisure and hospitality; professional, scientific and business services; and construction segments of the labor market, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said in a press release.