The July unemployment rate in Maine increased to 3.9%, which is 0.2% above June’s rate of 3.7%, according to a preliminary report released by Maine’s Department of Labor.
It still compares well to July 2015, when the department reported a rate of 4.4%.
Maine’s unemployment rate in July was below the New England average of 4.3%. New Hampshire reported an unemployment rate of 2.9%, Vermont 3.2% and Massachusetts 4.1%, according to the preliminary report.
Nationally, the U.S. preliminary unemployment rate of 4.9% in July was unchanged from June and down from 5.3% from the same month last year.