NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the year since the national economic meltdown began, Louisiana has lost 19,500 non-farm jobs, with manufacturing taking the brunt of the recession-fired unemployment, the Louisiana Workforce Commission reported Friday.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, manufacturing lost a net 10,200 jobs from September 2008 through September 2009, while the petroleum sector dropped 3,400 jobs. Construction, on the other hand, gained 2,900 jobs.

The service-providing sector, the source of most of the state’s job growth for more than a decade, shed 8,800 jobs, with major losses reported in trade, transportation and utilities, the financial sector, and professional-business services.

But only 900 jobs were lost from the August 2009 count as the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 7.4 percent in September from 7.8 percent in August. Louisiana had the 18th-lowest unemployment rate among the states. Over the past year, Louisiana’s civilian work force, a key factor in computing the unemployment rate, has fallen by 43,955, including 21,439 in September alone.

The national unemployment rate for September was 9.8 percent, up from 9.7 percent in August.

The drop in manufacturing put into hard numbers major job losses over the past year in almost all aspects of the sector, mirroring a national trend. In Louisiana, high-profile manufacturing losses included the shrinkage of the General Motors Corp. plant in Shreveport and sharp cutbacks in the wood products industry.

Petroleum refining fell along with energy prices. A year ago, oil prices had run up to $147 per barrel, a figure that fell by nearly four-fifths before starting a rebound. Benchmark crude for December delivery gave up 69 cents Friday to settle at $80.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Among the state’s metropolitan areas, Shreveport-Bossier City, with a heavy manufacturing component, lost 4,000 jobs over the past year, Baton Rouge dropped 2,200 jobs, New Orleans and its stalling recovery saw a job loss of 1,800 and oil-sensitive Lafayette lost 1,400 jobs.

Only Houma-Thibodaux and Lake Charles ended the year on a positive note, each with 200 more non-farm jobs.

In September, there were 18,867 new and renewed claims for jobless benefits, compared with 17,691 in August and 67,667 in September 2008 — a month when hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit the state, causing widespread temporary unemployment. In September, 4,968 recipients exhausted their benefits, compared with 5,782 in August and 4,088 in September 2008.