The Employment Situation in Maine - September 2022

Nonfarm wage and salary jobs increased by 1,600 and the unemployment rate increased to 3.3 percent in September.

This news release presents estimates derived from two monthly surveys. The Current Population Survey collects information from households on labor force status, including labor force participation, employment, and unemployment. The Current Employment Statistics survey collects information from employers by industry on the number of jobs, hours worked, and wages paid to individuals on their payrolls.

Statewide Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force Estimates

The 3.3 percent unemployment rate increased from 3.1 percent, and labor force participation and employment rates edged down to 58.4 and 56.5 percent in the month. Unemployment was modestly higher and labor force participation and employment rates were lower than rates that prevailed shortly before the pandemic.

Three-month averages generally provide a better indication of workforce conditions as they smooth some of the variability in sample-based estimates, and they reflect revisions for previous months. The 3.1 percent average unemployment rate for July to September was little changed from 3.2 percent for the three months through June. In that period average labor force participation and employment rates decreased.

The unemployment rate for Maine was close to the 3.5 and 3.3 percent rates for the U.S. and New England for September.

Statewide Seasonally Adjusted Nonfarm Jobs Estimates

Total nonfarm wage and salary jobs increased by 1,600 in September to 638,900, following an upward revision of 1,100 jobs for the August estimate. The largest increase in the month was in the leisure and hospitality sector.

In the three months through September the number of jobs increased an average of 700 per month over the previous three months through June. The three-month average was the same as the average for calendar year 2019, before the pandemic. Private sector jobs were 0.2 percent higher and government jobs were 1.1 percent lower, mostly in public higher education.

County and Metro Area Not Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force Estimates

On a not seasonally-adjusted basis the statewide unemployment rate was 3.2 percent. Of the 16 counties, rates were at least 0.3 percentage points higher than that in six counties, at least 0.3 points lower than that in four, and close to the average in six. Rates ranged from a low of 2.7 percent in Sagadahoc County to a high of 4.6 percent in Somerset County.

Among the three metro areas of the state, unemployment was below the statewide average in Portland-S. Portland (2.8 percent) and close to the average in Bangor (3.1 percent) and Lewiston-Auburn (3.3 percent).

(For substate areas, labor force estimates, including unemployment rates, are not seasonally adjusted. Because of this, estimates for a certain month should be compared to the same month in other years and should not be compared to other months.)

Statewide and Metro Area Not Seasonally Adjusted Hours and Earnings Estimates

The private sector workweek averaged 34.1 hours and earnings averaged $29.23 per hour in September. Hourly earnings increased 5.9 percent from a year earlier, led by a 7.5 percent gain in leisure and hospitality. The workweek was longest in manufacturing and shortest in leisure and hospitality. Earnings were highest in education and health services and lowest in leisure and hospitality.

Hourly earnings were higher than the statewide average in the Portland-S. Portland metro and lower in Bangor and Lewiston-Auburn.

• This news release is available in a more accessible format here - https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/news/release.html
• October workforce estimates will be released Friday, November 18 at 10 a.m. The data release schedule is here - https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/releaseDates.html
• Nonfarm jobs data is available here - https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/ces.html
• Unemployment and labor force data is available here - https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/laus.html

NOTES:

1. Preliminary seasonally-adjusted labor force estimates, including rates (labor force participation, employment, and unemployment rates), and levels (labor force, employed, and unemployed), as well as nonfarm wage and salary job estimates are inexact. Annual revisions (published in March each year) add accuracy. A comparison of 2020 and 2021 revised and previously published estimates is available in this blog.
2. The 90 percent confidence interval for the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September was between 2.6 and 4.0.
3. Nonfarm wage and salary jobs from the payroll survey provide a better indication of changes in employment than resident employment from the household survey. The payroll survey is larger and has smaller margins of error.
4. Nonfarm payroll jobs estimates tend to be volatile from month to month because of variability in the sample of reporting employers and their representativeness of all employers. Seasonal adjustment is imperfect because weather, the beginning and ending of school semesters, and other events do not always occur with the same timing relative to the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month, which is the survey reference period. This sometimes exacerbates monthly changes in jobs estimates. Users should look to the trend over multiple months rather than the change from one specific month to another. Jobs estimates for the period from April 2021 to September 2022 will be replaced with payroll data in March 2023. Those benchmark revisions usually show less monthly variability than preliminary estimates do