Maine's unemployment continues to shrink, hits record lows at county level
Maine's statewide unemployment rate continued to shrink in July, reaching 3%, the state's Department of Labor said in a news release Friday. And each of Maine's counties hit record-low unemployment levels.
The July rate for the state declined slightly from the June number of 3.2%, and was down from 3.4% in July 2018.
Maine’s unemployment rate has been below 4% for 43 consecutive months, the longest period on record. The previous streak was 22 months, ending in June 2001.
At the county level, non-seasonally adjusted rates were the lowest on record for July in all 16 counties. The rates were also at all-time lows in each of the state's metropolitan areas: 1.9% in Portland-South Portland, 2.5% in Bangor, and 2.6% in Lewiston-Auburn.
According to the Labor Department's preliminary estimate, there were 633,500 nonfarm payroll jobs in Maine during July, up 5,500 from one year ago. The largest gains were in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors.
The nationwide unemployment rate for July was 3.7%, unchanged from June and down slightly from 3.9% one year ago. Rates for other New England states were: 2.5% in New Hampshire, 2.1% in Vermont, 2.9% in Massachusetts, 3.5% in Rhode Island and 3.6% in Connecticut.
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