AUGUSTA – Maine’s unemployment rate in August was 5 percent, a 0.1 percentage point higher than July’s revised rate, according to the Baldacci administration.

Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman says the number of Maine residents who are working rose by 1,600 between July and August to nearly 677,000. But unemployment also rose slightly because the number of Mainers seeking work outweighed the gain in employment, Fortman said.

Between August 2004 and the same month this year, Maine’s unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point. But the number of non-farm wage and salary private sector jobs also rose by 4,000 during the same period.

The state figures are adjusted to reflect seasonal changes in the labor market.