Indiana’s unemployment rate has declined for the second straight month, dropping to 9.8 percent in November, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development said Friday morning.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate previously fell to 9.9 percent in October, from 10.1 percent the prior month. Indiana’s jobless rate topped out at 10.2 percent this year in both July and August.

“Indiana’s unemployment rate has decreased by four-tenths of a [percentage point] since the summer,” DWD Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in prepared statement. “This decline is noteworthy because the U.S. rate has been going up during the same period.”

The national unemployment rate in November was 9.8 percent, up from 9.6 percent the previous month.

Indiana has gained 46,200 private-sector jobs this year, an increase of 2 percent over the same time last year, the report said. In November, however, the state lost 2,600 private-sector jobs after gaining 7,600 in October.

Sectors with job growth included professional and business services, leisure and hospitality and financial activities.

Sectors with declines included trade, transportation and utilities, manufacturing and construction.

In the Midwest, only Kentucky reported an increase in unemployment in November. Illinois’ rate is 9.6 percent, followed by Ohio at 9.8 percent, Kentucky at 10.2 percent and Michigan at 12.4 percent.

The number of unemployed Hoosiers rose to 294,993 in November, from a revised 288,025 in October.

In the Indianapolis metro area, the non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 8.7 percent in November, up from 8.5 percent in October and from 8.2 percent in November 2009.

Comparisons of metro areas are most accurately made using the same months in prior years, because the government does not adjust the figures for factory furloughs and other seasonal fluctuations.