AUSTIN, Texas -- Officials say the Texas unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.7 percent in July as the state begins to feel the effects of the national economic slowdown.

The Texas Workforce Commission says Texas employers added 17,500 non-farm jobs in July. That's less than the monthly average so far this year.

With 248,600 new jobs added in the past 12 months, the annual job growth rate is 2.4 percent. Those job gains are far above the national growth rate of minus 0.4 percent.

The state's 4.7 percent jobless rate is up from 4.4 percent in June and 4.3 percent in July 2007.

Nationally, the unemployment rate climbed to 5.7 percent in July, up from 5.5 percent in June. Last year the national jobless rate for July was 4.7 percent.

The widely reported unemployment rates are adjusted for seasonal trends in hiring and firing. Most economists believe that gives a better picture of the job market. Without the seasonal adjustment, the Texas unemployment rate rose to 5 percent in July from 4.8 percent in June.

The commission said the leisure and hospitality industry continued to see gains, as did construction.

Following are the preliminary July jobless rates for local areas in Texas, with revised June numbers in parentheses. The local figures are not seasonally adjusted:

Abilene 4.1 (4.0)
Amarillo 3.8 (3.7)
Austin-Round Rock 4.4 (4.2)
Beaumont-Port Arthur 6.6 (6.3)
Brownsville-Harlingen 7.0 (6.8)
College Station-Bryan 4.4 (4.5)
Corpus Christi 5.1 (4.9)
Dallas-Plano-Irving 5.0 (4.8)
El Paso 6.3 (6.2)
Fort Worth-Arlington 5.0 (4.7)
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown 4.9 (4.7)
Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood 5.2 (5.1)
Laredo 5.8 (5.7)
Longview 4.6 (4.2)
Lubbock 4.3 (4.2)
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission 7.7 (7.2)
Midland 3.1 (3.1)
Odessa 3.7 (3.6)
San Angelo 4.3 (4.1)
San Antonio 4.8 (4.6)
Sherman-Denison 5.3 (5.0)
Texarkana 4.6 (4.6)
Tyler 5.1 (4.8)
Victoria 4.2 (4.1)
Waco 4.8 (4.7)
Wichita Falls 4.6 (4.6)