Although Maine’s unemployment rate has remained steadily low in recent months, the state has begun losing jobs during this same period for the first time since 2020.
In August, unemployment sat at 3.2 percent in Maine, a figure that is down slightly from the beginning of the year and unchanged from this same time in 2024.
Regionally, unemployment came in at 4.1 percent, a slightly better figure than the national rate of 4.3 percent.
Despite the promising nature of these numbers for Maine’s comparative economic position, the number of jobs available in the state has been decreasing for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.
[RELATED: Maine Down 1,100 Jobs in July, Unemployment Rate Holds Steady at 3.2%]
The state has lost 400 non-farm wage and salary jobs since last month and a whopping 2,300 since this same time last year.
After many months of strong, double digit job growth post-pandemic, the rate at which non-farm jobs were added to the state began to slow around April of 2024, about a year after the total number of non-farm jobs returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Accounting for about half of last month’s job decreases are the construction and the transportation, warehousing, and utilities sectors.
This past month, Mainers in the private sector worked an average of 33.2 hours, earning an average of $32.24 per hour.
Consistent with the trends of recent months, Mainers employed in construction saw the longest work weeks, while those in the leisure and hospitality industry had the shortest. Workers in this industry also earned the least money per hour on average.
Employees in the professional and business services industry had the highest average hourly wages in August at $36.58 per hour.
Wages have grown most significantly since August of last year for construction industry workers, rising by $1.92 per hour.
The only industry to see a drop in average hourly wages was the education and health services industry, where hourly pay decreased by 43 cents.
