KTA Updates - I. Employment Trends
Monthly Employment Statistics from the Maine Department of Labor:
The following statistics were taken from the Maine Department of Labor’s website concerning Maine employment on a monthly basis with the latest release concerning four (4) primary geographic areas in the State of Maine.
The statistics do not account for seasonal shifts in employment, as sharp declines or spikes due to seasonal fluctuation would bias the data since we are looking at narrow geographic areas smaller than the state.
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Unemployment Rate (seasonally adjusted)
| Oct 2011 | Sept 2011 | Oct 2010 | |
| Maine | 7.3% | 7.5% | 7.6% |
| United States | 9.0% | 9.1% | 9.7% |
Six County non-seasonally adjusted unemployment went up from 5.6% to 6.0% for the month of October; all other regions saw a decline in non-seasonally adjusted unemployment. National unemployment saw little change from 9.1% to 9.0%
Source: Maine Department of Labor – The Center for Workforce Research & Information
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Historical High Unemployment in Maine (seasonally adjusted)
| Maine’s Historical High | Unemployment Rate (%) |
| January 1977 | 9.0 |
Historical Low Unemployment in Maine (seasonally adjusted)
| Maine’s Historical Low | Unemployment Rate (%) |
| January 2001 | 3.1 |
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BLS ECONOMIC NEWS RELEASE:
THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — OCTOBER 2011
Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend up in October (+80,000), and the unemployment rate was little changed at 9.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment in the private sector rose, with modest job growth continuing in professional and businesses services, leisure and hospitality, health care, and mining. Government employment continued to trend down.
Household Survey Data
Both the number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.0 percent) changed little over the month. The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range from 9.0 to 9.2 percent since April. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate declined for blacks (15.1 percent) in October, while the rates for adult men (8.8 percent), adult women (8.0 percent), teenagers (24.1 percent), whites (8.0 percent), and Hispanics (11.4 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 7.3 percent, not seasonally adjusted. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
In October, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) declined by 366,000 to 5.9 million, or 42.4 percent of total unemployment. (See table A-12.)
The civilian labor force participation rate remained at 64.2 percent in October, and the employment-population ratio was little changed at 58.4 percent. (See table A-1.)
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Download an article that discusses macroeconomic trends and the unemployment following the recession of 2007:
How Will Unemployment Fare Following the Recession?
By: Edward S. Knotek II & Stephen Terry
Edward S. Knotek, II, is a senior economist and Stephen Terry is a research associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. This article is on the bank’s website at KansasCityFed.org.
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Monthly (October) Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment data in Aroostook/Washington WIA for 2011
| Civilian Labor Force | Employment | Unemployment | Unemployment Rate (%) |
Preliminary Calculation |
| 46,790 | 42,913 | 3,877 | 8.0 | No |
Monthly (October) Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment data in Tri County Investment Board for 2011
| Civilian Labor Force | Employment | Unemployment | Unemployment Rate (%) |
Preliminary Calculation |
| 117,390 | 109,278 | 8,112 | 7.0 | No |
Monthly (October) Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment data in Central/Western WIA for 2011
| Civilian Labor Force | Employment | Unemployment | Unemployment Rate (%) |
Preliminary Calculation |
| 187,276 | 173,444 | 13,832 | 7.0 | No |
Monthly (October) Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment data in Six County Coastal WIA for 2011
| Civilian Labor Force | Employment | Unemployment | Unemployment Rate (%) |
Preliminary Calculation |
| 345,791 | 325,622 | 20,169 | 6.0 | No |
Last Updated: 11/28/2011