PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s unemployment rate hit the lowest point in more than a decade in January, dipping to 3.8 percent statewide from a revised estimate of 4.9 percent one year ago.
The latest figures reflect an estimation that Maine’s total labor force has continued to decline as the estimated number of people employed rose from December’s estimate.
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The preliminary figures put Maine’s unemployment rate well below the national average of 4.9 percent and the regional average of 4.7 percent.
With the latest release, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised its estimates for each month of 2015, which adjusted the unemployment rate down for the full year. The revisions put Maine’s employment rate at 4.9 percent for January 2015, rather than the 5.2 percent from preliminary estimates.
The change is the result of downward revisions for both the number of people employed and the total labor force for 2015, based on other Bureau of Labor Statistics sources of data.
In the region, Maine’s preliminary jobless rate for January was lower than Massachusetts (4.7 percent), Rhode Island (5.1 percent) and Connecticut (5.2 percent). It was higher than the estimate for New Hampshire (3.1 percent) and Vermont (3.6 percent).