AUGUSTA – Maine’s unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point in December to 5 percent, the Baldacci administration said Monday.

December’s rate was also 0.2 percentage point higher than during the same month in 2002, the Labor Department said. But the 5 percent figure remained well below December’s national rate of 5.7 percent.

Rates are adjusted to account for seasonal fluctuations in the labor market.

“There was little change in overall labor market conditions between November and December,” Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said.

The number of nonagricultural jobs in Maine edged up by 600 to 604,800 between December 2002 and December 2003, the department said.

Job gains were recorded in educational and health services and retail trade. Mostly offsetting the job gains were losses recorded primarily in the manufacturing sector, including papermaking, computers and electronic equipment manufacturing.

Other New England states’ seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for December were Vermont at 4 percent; New Hampshire, 4.1 percent; Rhode Island, 5 percent; and Massachusetts, 5.7 percent.