AUGUSTA – Maine’s unemployment rate in October was 4.7 percent, unchanged from a month earlier but 0.2 percentage point lower than during the same month a year ago, the state Labor Department said Tuesday.

Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said labor market conditions improved between September and October as the number of working Mainers rose by 2,500 to 687,300.

Over the past year, Maine has recorded job gains in professional and business services, health care and social assistance, local government, construction and leisure and hospitality services. Job losses were primarily in manufacturing.

The unemployment figures are adjusted to reflect seasonal changes in the labor market. The adjusted national jobless rate for October was 4.4 percent, down from 4.6 percent for September and 4.9 percent for October 2005.

For 2007, the Bush administration expects the nation’s unemployment rate to hold steady at 4.6 percent and then edge up to 4.8 percent in 2008. The nation’s unemployment rate averaged 5.1 percent last year.

Elsewhere in northern New England, Vermont’s unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 3.6 percent in October thanks to healthy growth in job markets, state labor officials said Tuesday. New Hampshire’s unemployment rate in October was 3.3 percent, 0.1 percentage point over September’s rate.

Within Maine, unadjusted figures show a range of unemployment rates from a low of 3.4 percent in York County to a high of 6.6 percent in Washington County.