Maine Unemployment Rate 5.5 Percent in June

July 18, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 18, 2014 Contact: Glenn Mills 207-621-5192

State Labor Commissioner Jeanne Paquette released June workforce estimates, noting the unemployment rate was down and the employment to population ratio was up over the last year. Job growth was spread across a number of sectors.

Seasonally Adjusted Statewide Data Household Survey Estimates ? The preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 5.5 percent for June was the lowest since August 2008. The estimate is down from 5.7 percent in May and 6.7 percent one year ago. The number of unemployed declined 8,200 over the year to 39,300.

The share of the population that is employed was estimated at 61.6 percent, well above the U.S. average of 59.0 percent. June was the 81st consecutive month the employment to population ratio was above the national average.

The U.S. unemployment rate estimate declined to 6.1 percent from 6.3 percent in May and 7.5 percent one year ago. The New England unemployment rate averaged 5.7 percent. Rates for other states were 4.4 percent in New Hampshire, 3.5 percent in Vermont, 5.5 percent in Massachusetts, 7.9 percent in Rhode Island, and 6.7 percent in Connecticut.

Labor force and unemployment data for the state, counties, and labor market areas is available at http://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/laus1.html .

Payroll Survey Estimates ? The preliminary nonfarm payroll jobs estimate for June is 611,400, up 8,000 from one year ago. Private sector jobs were up 8,800, primarily in the leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and education and healthcare sectors. Those gains were partially offset by a decline of 800 jobs in government.

Nonfarm payroll jobs data for the state and three metropolitan areas is available at http://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/ces1.html .

Not Seasonally Adjusted Substate Data The not seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in June, down from 6.6 percent one year ago. Not seasonally adjusted rates ranged from 4.1 percent in Cumberland County to 7.7 percent in Aroostook and Washington Counties. Rates tended to be lower than the statewide average in southern and central counties and higher than average in northern and rim counties.

Among metro areas the unemployment rate was below the statewide average in Portland-South Portland-Biddeford (4.1 percent) and Lewiston-Auburn (4.9 percent) and at the statewide average in Bangor (5.1 percent).

This release is available at http://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/news/release.html .

July estimates will be released Monday, August 18. The Data Release Schedule is available at http://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/releaseDates.html .

NOTES:

1. Preliminary labor force estimates, including unemployment and employment to population ratios for Maine tend to move in a direction for several months and then reverse course. Those directional trends are largely driven by a smoothing procedure and may not indicate a change in underlying workforce conditions. Annual revisions (to be published in March 2015) will eliminate those directional patterns. A comparison of preliminary and annually revised unemployment rates is available at http://cwri.blogspot.com/2014/03/workforce-data-revisions-part-1.html .

2. Nonfarm payroll jobs estimates tend to be volatile from month to month. Estimates for the period from October 2013 to September 2014 will be replaced with actual payroll data in March 2015. The job count is likely to show less volatility than preliminary estimates.

-end-