2.5% unemployment record low for state

AUGUSTA – Maine’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 2.5 percent in November – the lowest seasonally adjusted rate on record.

State Labor Commissioner Valerie Landry said the previous low – 3.2 percent – was in August. Seasonally adjusted rates for Maine have been compiled since 1978.

“The tight labor market Maine has experienced this year is the result of continued job growth and a low supply of available labor. Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates have been low all year, ranging from 3.2 percent to 3.5 percent,” Landry said in a news release.

Between October and November, seasonally adjusted nonfarm wage and salary employment increased by 5,500, to 602,000, largely in manufacturing due to the end of the labor dispute at Bath Iron Works.

Between November 1999 and November 2000, seasonally adjusted nonfarm wage and salary employment rose by 10,200, with job growth in services, retail trade, construction, wholesale trade, and transportation, communication and public utilities.