Maine unemployment rate inches up in October
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Maine's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched up to 3.6% in October from 3.3% in September, the Maine Department of Labor said in its latest monthly barometer.
Total non-farm wage and salary jobs increased by 3,000 in October to 641,900, following a downward revision of 700 jobs for the September estimate.
The biggest job increases for the month were in retail, health care and social assistance, and the leisure and hospitality sectors.
In the three months through October, the number of jobs increased an average of 1,500 per month over the previous three months through July.
The three-month average was 0.3 percentage points higher than the average for 2019, before the pandemic. Private-sector jobs were 0.6% higher, while government jobs were 1.3% lower, mostly in public higher education.
Among Maine's three metropolitan areas, unemployment was below the statewide average in Portland-South Portland at 2.9%, and close to the average in Bangor (3.3%) and Lewiston-Auburn (3.6%).
Across Maine, unemployment ranged from a low of 2.9% in Sagadahoc County to a high of 4.8% in Somerset County.
The Maine Department of Labor is scheduled to release November statistics Dec. 16.
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