PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s unemployment rate continued to fall in August, down to 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent in July.
The continued decline in the jobless rate made it the lowest level since April of 2007, when the number of job seekers and estimate of the state’s workforce were at higher levels.
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The latest figures estimate there are 8,200 fewer job seekers unable to find work, a number that mostly reflects a decline in the number of people looking for work and not an increase in total employment.
The estimate of Mainers employed was barely changed in August from one year ago, down 113. The estimate of the labor force had declined by 8,282.
The unemployment rate is calculated from the difference between employment and the labor force estimates, divided by the labor force estimate. Maine’s labor force remains estimated at a lower level than at the pit of the recession, in late 2009, when employment bottomed out and the jobless rate hit 8.3 percent.
The estimate of nonfarm payroll jobs continued to rise in August, posting gains of 6,500 from one year ago.
The slight decline in Maine’s jobless rate came as the national rate dropped to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent in July and 6.1 percent one year earlier.
Maine’s jobless rate was higher than New Hampshire and Vermont (both 3.6 percent) and lower than Massachusetts (4.7 percent), Connecticut (5.3 percent) and Rhode Island (5.6 percent).