Maine unemployment rate sinks to new pandemic low
Maine’s unemployment rate fell to 2.8% during July, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic, the state Labor Department said Friday morning.
The June unemployment rate, the previous pandemic low, was 3%. The percentage of Maine workers who are unemployed has been on a steady decline since January, when the rate was 4.1%.
The number of nonfarm jobs in the state increased 2,800 during July to 635,600, according to the Labor Department data. The largest employment gains were in the fields of local government, primarily schools, leisure and hospitality, retail trade, and professional and business services.
Across Maine, unemployment rates ranged from a low of 2.2% in Sagadahoc County to a high of 4% in Washington County, according to data that was not seasonally adjusted.
In Maine’s three metro areas, unemployment was below the statewide average in Portland-South Portland, at 2.3%, and close to the average in Bangor, 2.7%, and Lewiston-Auburn, 2.9%.
Nationwide, the July unemployment rate was 3.5%, slightly down from 3.6% in June. The U.S. rate has remained flat at that level since March.
In April 2020, the first full month of the pandemic, the U.S. unemployment rate spiked from the previous month’s level of 4.4% to 14.7%. In Maine, the rate soared from 2.7% to 9.1%.
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