As the economic slowdown continues and the local housing and real estate markets remain sluggish, the unemployment rate for the city of Santa Clarita increased more than half a percent in July to 4.9 percent, the state’s Employment Development Department reports.

The figures, which are not seasonally adjusted, show a labor force of 92,000 with 87,500 employed. The department, which released the monthly figures Friday, put the number of unemployed at 4,500.

The total number of unemployed for June was 3,900.

The city’s unemployment rate has been on a steady increase in the last months as June’s rate was 4.3 percent, and May had a rate of 3.9 percent.

Similarly, the unemployment rate for Los Angeles County has been on the increase as well. For July, the state department reports a rate of 8.1 percent for the county, a one percent increase from June. The county has a labor force of 4,995,200 and an employment of 4,592,900. The number of unemployed in the county is 402,300, bringing the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent.