(Harrisburg) -- Unemployment numbers out Tuesday show more people are out of work across the commonwealth, but central Pennsylvania is bucking the statewide trend. Last month's unemployment rate is 8.3 percent, up from 8.2 percent in August. The figure released by the Department of Labor and Industry represents a .2 percent drop from September 2010 and bests the national joblessness rate of 9.1 percent. Analysts say the beginning of the school year boosted jobs in the educational and government sectors in the midstate. They also say striking Verizon workers' return to their jobs improved the picture. In the so-called "Harrisburg-Carlisle" Metropolitan Statistical Area unemployment fell .4 percent to 7.4 percent. Reading tied Gettysburg and Juniata County for the biggest improvement in joblessness figures, while Lebanon boasts the area's lowest unemployment rate at 6.7 percent. Schuylkill County had the highest unemployment rate in the region at 9.7 percent and the York-Hanover area saw the slowest job growth.