Maine’s September unemployment rate and labor force participation rate remained largely unchanged in comparison to recent months, according to the Maine Department of Labor’s (MDOL) Tuesday press release.
For the fourth month in row, the state’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate has been calculated at 2.8 percent, while labor force participation came in at 60.1 percent.
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.
Nationwide, unemployment for September came in at 4.1 percent with a labor force participation rate of 62.7 percent. Unemployment for New England was calculated at 3.5 percent.
The three-month average for unemployment in Maine has subtly improved, dropping from 3 percent in April through June to 2.8 percent in July through September.
In September of last year, unemployment was at 3.2 percent in Maine, while labor force participation came in at 59.4 percent.
Maine’s labor force participation rate is now beginning to trend upwards but still remains below the national average, as well as in comparison to other demographically-similar states.
September’s rate of 60.1 percent represents a .2 percent increase over the August numbers, roughly mirroring the rate of increase seen over the past several months.
The three-month average for labor force participation has also moved in a slightly positive direction, increasing from 59.5 percent in April through June to 59.9 percent in July through September.
Labor force 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 66.9 percent and 65.1 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.”
0 Comments