The last time unemployment was this low, Gerald Ford was the president, gas cost 59 cents a gallon and the No. 1 song was Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.”
The Maine Department of Labor reported Friday that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2.9% in February was the lowest in 42 years.
Both the rate and the number of unemployed were the lowest recorded since the current methodology was implemented in 1976.
Maine’s rate was little changed from 3.0% for January and slightly down from 3.3% one year ago. The number of unemployed declined 3,000 over the year to 20,000.
The state’s unemployment rate has been below 4.0% for 27 consecutive months.
By comparison, the New England average unemployment rate for February was 3.6% and the U.S. rate was 4.1% (which is unchanged over the last five months, but down from 4.7% one year ago).
Here are February unemployment rates for the other New England states: New Hampshire, 2.6%; Vermont, 2.8%; Massachusetts, 3.5%; Rhode Island, 4.5%; Connecticut, 4.6%.
Maine’s estimated employment-to-population ratio of 61.5% remained above the 60.4% U.S. average.
Unemployment decreased over the year in all Maine counties, with the lowest rate being 2.4% in Cumberland and the highest being 5.2% in Washington.
The unemployment rate in the Portland-South Portland (2.5%) and Lewiston-Auburn (3.0%) metro areas was below the statewide average and close to the average in the Bangor metro area (3.4%).