Unemployment rate remains flat in December; job recovery may be stalling
The recent surge in COVID-19 cases across Maine has slowed the recovery of jobs during December, the state said, and the unemployment rate remained flat.
The rate was 4.9%, identical to the adjusted rate in November, according to data released Tuesday by the state Labor Department.
There were 588,900 nonfarm jobs in December, an increase of only 400. The number of jobs was essentially unchanged over the fourth quarter of 2020, the department said in a news release.
The state did see a net gain of 3,600 jobs in construction, manufacturing, transportation and other sectors. But it was nearly offset by a sharp decrease in the leisure and hospitality sector and by the early end of in-person instruction on University of Maine campuses. Jobs in hospitality and in public higher education decreased 1,800 and 1,200 respectively during December.
Across all sectors there were 7.6% fewer jobs than in February, before the onset of COVID-19.
Nationwide, the December unemployment rate also remained flat, at 6.7%. Rates for other states in New England were 4% in New Hampshire, 3.1% in Vermont, 7.4% in Massachusetts, 8.1% in Rhode Island, and 8% percent in Connecticut.
As in recent months, the Labor Department cautioned that Maine’s unemployment rate underestimates job displacement, since public health concerns and related factors prevent many jobless people from seeking or being available to work, as they normally would.
Those who were not available or did not engage in work search are not counted as unemployed. If labor force participation was as high as it was in February, before the pandemic, and jobless Mainers were classified correctly, the state’s unemployment rate would have been roughly 10%.
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