The Maine Department of Labor (MDOL) released the state’s June employment numbers Friday, revealing that while Maine’s unemployment rate is low, a significant share of working-age residents remain out of the workforce.
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment for June was preliminarily calculated at 2.8 percent while the labor force participation rate came in at 59.6 percent.
Compared to May, both of these statistics are nearly identical, having previously come in at 3 percent and 59.5 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.
The state’s unemployment rate is nearly identical to that of June 2023, at which time it was found to be 2.5 percent.
During this same time period, the national unemployment rate has risen from 3.8 percent to 4.3 percent.
When broken down by county, unemployment has risen most significantly over the past year in Washington and Oxford counties, where it increased by .3 percent. Somerset County has fared the best during this period, seeing an unemployment decrease of .4 percent.
According to the MDOL, unemployment has been below 4 percent for 31 months and below the national average for all but two months out of the past 16 years.
[RELATED: Maine’s April Employment Numbers Nearly Identical to March, Labor Force Participation Remains Low]
Maine’s labor force participation rate is slightly higher than it was a year ago, at which time it came in at 59.2 percent.
Workforce participation rates are representative of the proportion of working-age individuals who are either employed or actively searching for work.
According to historical labor force participation data tracked by the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, the proportion of working-age Mainers actually working was last below 60 percent in March 1978.
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 65.9 percent and 66.3 percent respectively.
The MDOL cautions in their press release that their figures are “preliminary” and therefore “should be considered in the context of whether they are below, near, or above historical or U.S. averages, rather than if they are up or down a few tenths of a point from some other month.”
How many of those none participating work force persons are able bodied people who actually are on welfare in Maine instead of getting a job? 🤔
You do not need a job if the government is giving you money for not working Janet.
Nobody wants to work for a living anymore .
Food stamps ….heating assistance … food kitchens ….free stuff galore ..who NEEDS to work ?
We ought to get a BUNCH of real genuine new Mainers as soon as some of these clowns figure out that if mom gets pregnant and has a new baby every year, Billy can get a couple month free vacation paid for by his employer …..YIPPEE ! Family Maternity Leave ……let’s do it !
Thanks Joe . Thanks Janet .
You just gotta go to your town office and ask how to find one them there welfare “navigators” who are paid by the state to steer you to all the freebies. That navigator will tell you how to talk to the freebee givers sos as that your kid who ain’t doing good in school can have his very own baby sitter, called an Education Tech, to do all his learning for him. Think those degrading “food stamps” are now just a credit card for food and stuff, just like them people what has to work have. In case you get caught doing somethin bad, you gotta be issued a free lawyer what makes $150 an hour keeping you outta jail and that guy is paid by the taxpayers. There is lots more good stuff.
If there’s a place to get the number of Mainer’s on Social Security Disability that might tell part of the story.
The figures the state is spewing are BS! There are many that have dropped off the scale they have lost their jobs, the jobs are gone thousands of businesses are gone because of Janet Mills and her gestapo mentality during the fakedemic and following the little nazi Fauci and destroying the economy and businesses, all for the party! The plan was to shape the people into sheeple and destroy the economy so people had to rely on the government! It didn’t work in many cases they just went to ground and learned to survive without government interference.