Maine Unemployment Rate 8.5 In September

The following is a press release from the Maine Department of Laber, sent out Thursday:

State Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman announced the preliminary unemployment rate for Maine was 8.5 percent in September, down slightly from a revised rate of 8.6 percent in August and up from 5.6 percent in September 2008. The number of unemployed totaled 59,600, up 20,300 from a year ago.

Though the unemployment rate has been relatively stable since June, many people continue to struggle to find a job, Fortman said. We want job seekers to be aware of the work search and placement services offered at local CareerCenters and at mainecareercenter.com.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 9.8 percent, up from 9.7 percent in August and 6.2 percent a year ago.

The number of nonfarm wage and salary jobs declined 2,300 over the month to 592,800 in September. Job losses were spread across a number of sectors with the largest losses in leisure & hospitality, government, and retail trade.

Over the year through September the number of nonfarm jobs was down 22,900. Nearly three-quarters of net job losses were in the manufacturing, construction, retail trade, and government sectors. Education and health services is the only sector with net job growth in the last 12 months.

Seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates in other New England states were 7.2 percent in New Hampshire, 6.7 percent in Vermont, 9.3 percent in Massachusetts, 13.0 percent in Rhode Island, and 8.4 percent in Connecticut.

Maine Unemployment Rate 8.5 In September

Posted: Thursday, November 5 2009, 01:26 PM EST