The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) released the state’s April employment numbers Friday, revealing little change from March and a slight deterioration compared to 2023.
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for April was calculated at 3.1 percent, with a labor force participation rate of 59.4 percent.
In March, these same figures came in at 3.3 percent and 59.3 percent respectively.
Seasonal adjustment is a statistical technique that is regularly employed to remove the influences of “predictable seasonal patterns” in order to reveal a more accurate measure of how the employment situation has evolved over time.
Compared to April of 2023, unemployment has risen .7 percent, more than double the .3 percent jump that the national unemployment rate made during this same period.
According to the MDOL, Maine’s unemployment rate has remained below 4 percent for 29 months and less than the national average for all but two months out of the past 16 years.
The average unemployment rate for New England this April came in at 3.3 percent.
The MDOL cautions in their press release that these figures represent “preliminary” estimates and “should be considered in the context of whether they are below, near, or above historical averages, rather than if they are up or down a few tenths of a point from some other month.”
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Maine’s labor force participation rate this April is slightly higher than it was a year ago, at which time it was calculated to be an even 59 percent.
Workforce participation rates are representative of the proportion of working-age individuals who are either employed or actively searching for work.
Although there are a number of different ways to calculate the labor force participation rate, the MDOL arrives at its statistics by considering all individuals over the age of 16. Consequently, retirees and other elderly individuals are included in these numbers.
As a result of this, it can be more complicated to parse these statistics, particularly given Maine’s aging population.
Looking at states with a similar average age, however, reveals that there is likely more to the story in Maine than simply an older-than-average population.
While Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont all have a similar median age, New Hampshire and Vermont have significantly higher rates of labor force participation this month – at 65.4 percent and 65.3 percent respectively.
95% of new work force(New Mainers) is collecting welfare benefits and Mills wants to import 75,000 more of them. When you people are going to wake up and vote the bums out.