Sep. 19--Florida's unemployment rate held steady at 10.7 percent in August, helped by a shovel-full of construction jobs, many teachers going back to work and fewer job losses last month.

The jobless rate eased slightly from a revised July rate of 10.8 percent, the state work force agency said Friday.

From July to August, Florida added 4,600 construction jobs, a 1.1 percent increase. The state previously added 8,700 construction jobs in May, but then had declines in June and July. Over the year so far, the state lost 63,000 construction industry jobs.

"When you're at the trough of a recession, you're going to get mixed signals," said Rebecca Rust, chief economist for the Florida Agency for Workforce Innovation. While August's rate plateau is a positive sign, "the job market is still in very bad shape," she said in a media conference call Friday.

The state's largest job gains in August were in local government, but that statistic is misleading as well: It's mostly due to teachers going back to work.

Local government numbers were given a boost in August by the stimulus package, which has saved or created 42,123 teacher and related jobs statewide, according Florida's Department of Education. But the numbers were still slightly less than jobs added in August 2007 and 2008, according to Rust.

Craig Thomas, economist with PNC Financial Services Group, said the month could mark the beginning of a fairly broad recovery.

"Just the possibility of one's job situation being more stable -- 'I survived. I feel better about my situation' --prompts: 'Maybe I'll go out and buy that TV or buy clothes.' " Thomas said.

Nationally, "the pall of fear that covered the economy has dissipated. There's a recognition that this recession is going to end," said Sean Snaith, economist for the University of Central Florida.

The state's jobless rate is still forecast to peak at 11 percent in the second quarter of 2010 before beginning a slow decline, according to the Florida Economic Estimating Conference.

"We have a couple of tough years ahead of us," Snaith said.

Florida has nearly 1 million residents who are unemployed, and that doesn't count those who have quit looking for jobs. August's 10.7 percent jobless rate is up 4.2 percentage points from 6.5 percent in August 2008. The last time the unemployment rate was higher was in October 1975, when it was 11 percent.

Broward's jobless rate was 9.5 percent in August compared with a revised 9.7 percent for July. Miami-Dade County's unemployment stayed at 11.7 percent.