The state added a net 3,800 jobs in August, the 12th consecutive month of job growth, state officials said Wednesday.

But the official unemployment rate — which doesn't include jobless people who've stopped looking for work and those working in less than full-time jobs — stubbornly stood at 9.3 percent, the same as the previous month. A year ago, the rate was 9.4 percent.

Companies have the money to hire but aren't hiring because of a fear that consumers aren't going to be spending more, said Dave Wallace, acting chief economist for the state Employment Security Department.

Consumer demand, which typically drives about two-thirds of the U.S. economy, is "fairly depressed," he said. Nationally, consumer confidence in August was at its lowest level in more than two years while household debt and poverty levels remain high.

Exports and business services are leading job growth in Washington now, he said.

The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett area's unemployment was 8.9 percent last month, the same as in July, according to the state Department of Employment Security. The national jobless rate of 9.1 percent didn't change either.

Those seasonally adjusted figures understate the ranks of the unemployed and underemployed because they don't include discouraged workers who have dropped out of the labor force and part-time workers who can't find full-time jobs.

Under the broadest measure that does include those people, Washington's underemployment rate over the four quarters ending June 30 was 18.7 percent, up from 18.4 percent as of March 31, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Washington and Oregon are tied for fifth among the states in underemployment. Nevada ranks first at 23.3 percent, followed by California, 21.8 percent.

Companies here might be ready to hire, Wallace said, but "what economists are asking themselves is, 'Why aren't they?' "

The industries that saw job growth in August included manufacturing, up 3,500 jobs, including 600 in aerospace; education and health services, up 2,000; information, up 1,800; construction, up 1,400; and retail trade, up 400.

During a month of volatility in the markets and growing pessimism about the second half of the year, the financial-activities sector suffered the most in August, cutting 2,400 jobs. Wholesale trade was down 1,600; leisure and hospitality, 1,300; government, 400; and transportation, 100.

The state also revised the job gains reported for July from 5,700 to 8,400 jobs. The biggest change was in wholesale trade, revised from a loss of 100 jobs to a gain of 2,800 jobs.

Over the past 12 months, the state has added a net 46,600 jobs. The state estimates the private sector generated 53,200 jobs, while the government sector cut 6,600 jobs.

Among industry sectors, professional and business services have led in job growth during the past 12 months with 13,400 jobs, followed closely by 12,200 jobs in manufacturing. Aerospace contributed 7,500 of those jobs.

Bellmont Cabinet Co., formerly known as Pacific Crest Industries, has expanded its workforce by 50 percent since January to about 150 people in anticipation of orders for two new product lines, said John Brush, marketing director of the family owned cabinet manufacturing firm, just south of Auburn.

Orders are up from last year, he said, because the company expanded from its base in the Western states to dealers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas, Louisiana and on the East Coast.

Bellmont's dealers are telling the company their confidence is up, Brush said, although "it's a cautious optimism."

Education and health services grew by 7,500 jobs; retail trade, 5,900 jobs; leisure and hospitality, 4,700; transportation, 4000; wholesale, 2,800; information, 2,100; construction, 900.

Financial activities has cut 2,200 jobs over the past 12 months.

An estimated 309,984 people in the state were jobless and looking for work last month, the department said, and 177,751 of them received $234 million in unemployment benefits.

As of Sept. 3, 62,986 workers in Washington had exhausted their unemployment benefits, the state said.

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com