Maine’s unemployment rate held steady in September at 3.2 percent, a figure that remained unchanged from the previous month. Despite this, the total number of jobs in the state decreased for the second month in a row.
In terms of unemployment, Maine is currently faring better than both New England and the nation at large, where unemployment came in at 4.1 percent and 4.4 percent respectively in September.
Despite the promising nature of these numbers for Maine’s comparative economic position, the number of jobs available in the state has continued its first decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic.
From August to September, the total number of non-farm jobs in the state dropped by 8,300 and is 4,600 lower than this same time last year.
Private sector workers earned a weekly average of $1,085.31, up $12.13 over last September. Average weekly hours decreased slightly during this same period.
Much like previous months, construction workers were found to have both the highest pay and longest hours. Similarly, leisure and hospitality workers spent the least amount of time on the job and were paid the least on average weekly.
Per hour pay shows leisure and hospitality workers still at the bottom with those in professional and business services positions earning the most at $37.15 per hour.
The only industry to see a drop in hourly pay compared to September of 2024 is education and health services where the average decreased by 38 cents an hour.
Trade, transportation, and utilities saw the most substantial increase, with hourly pay jumping by $1.61.
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Due to the record-long government shutdown, some of the underlying data used by the MDOL for labor force estimates was not collected. Non-farm job estimates will be released concurrently with data from November 2025 in January.
