As Maine employers struggle to find workers, unemployment rate is nearly unchanged
Help wanted signs hang everywhere from McDonald’s and Hammond Lumber in the midcoast to the YMCA in Portland. Walgreen’s has closed some pharmacies on Sundays due to staffing shortages, while Maine Medical Center is offering hiring bonuses up to $20,000 for registered nurses.
Job postings are everywhere, and companies large and small struggle to find workers. But still Maine’s unemployment and labor force participation remained little changed in November, the state Department of Labor said Friday.
The unemployment rate in November was 4.8%, down just a hair from 4.9% in October. The unemployment rate has been hovering at 4.8% or 4.9% for 10 consecutive months. The labor force participation rate was 60.3%, smack in the middle of the eight-month range of 60.1% to 60.4%.
The unemployment rate in November was 1.7 percentage points higher and the labor force participation rate was 2.3 points lower than in the pre-pandemic month of February 2020. The decrease in employment since then is partially reflected in the 11,300 increase in the number of people unemployed. The remainder of the decrease in employment is reflected in lower labor force participation, the labor department said.
The U.S. and New England unemployment rates were 4.2% and 5.1%, respectively. Rates for other states in the six-state New England region ranged from a low of 2.6% in Vermont to a high of 6.0% in Connecticut.
Nonfarm payroll jobs were little changed in November, down 1,100 to 613,100 after an upward revision of 700 to the October estimate. The number of jobs has essentially been unchanged since summer and is similar to levels in the spring. The recent flatness is similar to what occurred during previous surges in coronavirus case counts last fall and this spring, the labor department said.
As of Thursday, Maine reported 1,286 new cases of COVID-19 and 27 additional deaths. A record 381 patients were in Maine hospitals, the CDC reported.
The more contagious omicron variant could soon be the dominant strain of the disease in the United States, outpacing the delta variant that fueled the surge in cases in the fall. Omicron may cause less severe illness but spreads more easily.
Jobs were little changed or up slightly in most sectors in November. The exceptions were in health care and social assistance, which shed 1,300 jobs, mostly in hospitals and offices of practitioners, and in construction, which added 400 jobs.
In November there were 4.2% fewer jobs than in February, 2020, before the virus impacted the labor market. Half of the net decrease in those 21 months was in the leisure and hospitality sector, one quarter was in state and local governments, and 20% in healthcare and social assistance.
The not seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate of 4.3% for November was down from 4.7% one year ago. Unemployment rates were lowest in Sagadahoc County, at 3.5%. and highest in Somerset County, at 6.1 %.
Unemployment rates were below the statewide average in the Portland-South Portland metro area at 3.8 %, and close to the average in the Bangor metro at 4.1% and Lewiston-Auburn at 4.5%.
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments