HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rose again last month, and it now lags the national unemployment rate by the widest gap in more than three decades.

The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s jobless rate rose to 5.7 percent in August. That’s the fifth monthly increase in the last six months. The national rate was 4.9 percent in August.

Pennsylvania’s rate hasn’t lagged the national rate by a bigger gap since 1981.

Friday’s unemployment figures are preliminary and could change.