The Ann Arbor region’s unemployment rate declined by half a percentage point to 8.8 percent in October, according to statistics released today by the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.

The unemployment rate's decline was attributable almost entirely to seasonal hiring by local universities and schools, state officials said. The public sector, which includes the University of Michigan, added 4,100 jobs from September to October.

Washtenaw County’s private sector, however, continues to suffer.

“Nearly all industry sectors were down over the year and the area posted an overall decline of 5,200 jobs” in the last 12 months, according to a state report.

The county’s unemployment rate slipped from 9.3 percent in September and 9.4 percent in August. The rate was 6.0 percent in October 2008.

The state said this month that its unemployment rate for October was 15.1 percent, up from 9.1 percent in October 2008.

In Washtenaw County, the “professional and business services” segment added 800 jobs in October, “a month in which a small decline is typically expected,” the state said. Some “700 of these gains came in the sub-sector of administrative and support services.”

Washtenaw County retailers, however, have cut about 1,800 jobs over the last 12 months, according to the state.

Contact AnnArbor.com’s Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.