PORTLAND, Maine — The preliminary estimate of Maine’s jobless rate dropped to 4.8 percent in March, the lowest level since February 2008.
Maine’s unemployment estimates have been on a steady and steep decline since the start of the year, but the Maine Department of Labor’s Center for Workforce Research and Information noted the preliminary estimates tend to move in one direction and are later corrected when more detailed statistics are available.
The long-term trend shows Maine’s unemployment rate is on a steady decline, due since Late 2013 to a drop in the number of people working or actively seeking jobs, which makes up the total workforce.
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Compared with March 2013, the total estimate of people with jobs last month was relatively steady, at about 657,000. The number of job seekers unable to find work was down, however, by 15,335. The decline in unemployment came from a drop in the workforce estimate of 16,196 for the same period.
Employment was on a steady rise from a low after the recession in late 2009 until late 2013, when total job estimates turned around.
Payroll jobs over the last year continued to rise and, up about 2,300 from one year ago, the balance of an increase of 2,800 private sector payroll jobs and a decrease of 500 government jobs.
Maine’s jobless rate of 4.8 percent in March compared with the national unemployment rate of 5.5 percent, down from 6.6 percent one year earlier. Maine’s preliminary unemployment rate for March was higher than Vermont (3.8 percent), New Hampshire (3.9 percent), tied with Massachusetts and lower than Rhode Island (6.3 percent) and Connecticut (6.4 percent).
An annual data revision schedule calls for estimates for the period from October 2014 through September 2015 to be updated with more detailed payroll data in one year.