AUGUSTA (AP) – Maine’s unemployment rate held steady in September at 4.9 percent, state Labor Department officials said Tuesday.

The state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate, unchanged from August, was up from 4.4 percent a year ago but well below the national September rate of 6.1 percent.

“Labor market conditions remained little changed in September. The seasonally adjusted state unemployment rate has held even at 4.9 percent for the past three months. Non-farm wage and salary jobs edged up by 500 between August and September to 604,800,” said Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman.

Non-farm wage and salary jobs fell by 1,500 to 604,800 between September 2002 and September 2003.

The largest job loss was recorded in the manufacturing sector. Declines came in paper, computers and electronic equipment, textile and apparel manufacturing, and wood products, officials said.

Partially offsetting gains came in educational and health services.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates around New England ranged from 4.3 percent in Vermont to 5.7 percent in Massachusetts. In other parts of the region, joblessness was measured at 4.5 percent in New Hampshire and Rhode Island and 5.0 percent in Connecticut.

At 6.1 percent, the national rate in September was unchanged from August and up from 5.7 percent a year earlier.

The number of jobs in the New England region began increasing in the second quarter of this year after eight consecutive quarters of decline.

But New England Economic Project Vice President Ross Gittell of the University of New Hampshire predicts that New England won’t return to its 2001 peak level of employment until the third quarter of 2005.

AP-ES-10-21-03 1300EDT