The Employment Situation in Maine - November 2023 Bookmark and Share

December 22, 2023

Released: Friday, December 22, 2023 at 10 a.m.

Contact: Mark McInerney, 207-620-0197

The Employment Situation in Maine - November 2023

Nonfarm jobs estimates, based on a survey of employer payrolls, increased 3,800, reaching all-time highs for the fourth consecutive month. Unemployment estimates, based on a survey of households, also increased for the fourth consecutive month. Indications on the direction of change from the two monthly workforce surveys have appeared to diverge recently. The 3.0 percent unemployment rate was up because the labor force increased at a faster rate than employment, as in the previous three months. Unemployment remains below the national rate and long-term average.

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 nonfarm employers by industry on the number of jobs, hours worked, and wages paid to individuals on their payrolls. Both surveys are administered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Preliminary estimates from the two surveys sometimes diverge in direction or magnitude of change. Annual revisions published each spring tend to bring them in to better alignment.

Statewide Seasonally Adjusted Labor Force Estimates

The 3.0 percent unemployment rate increased slightly from 2.8 percent for October. Unemployment has been below four percent for 24 consecutive months the second longest such period. The rate for November was slightly above half the average since January 1976.

Unemployment sometimes rises in periods when job openings rates and wage growth are high. This occurs when those who were not employed and were not seeking a job begin work search, which shifts their status from not in, to in the labor force as unemployed. (The labor force is comprised of employed and unemployed people. Retired and other jobless people who are not seeking or not available for work are not in the labor force and not counted as unemployed.)

The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.7 percent. This was the 192nd consecutive month Maine had a lower rate than the nation, except for three months in 2021 when they were the same. For New England the rate was 2.9 percent.

Three-month averages smooth some of the variability in sample-based estimates and reflect revisions for previous months. The 2.8 percent average unemployment rate for September to November was up from 2.4 percent for the three months through August. The increase in unemployment in that period was from a larger increase in labor force participation than in employment.

Statewide Seasonally Adjusted Nonfarm Jobs Estimates

Nonfarm wage and salary jobs increased 3,800 to 655,100. This was the fourth consecutive month jobs reached new highs, following eight months of little net change. Three-quarters of the increase was in professional and business services, healthcare and social assistance, and leisure and hospitality. The average of jobs for September to November was up 6,000 from the three months through August. Most of the 9,700 jobs gained in the last 12 months occurred since July.

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 seven counties, at least 0.3 points lower than that in four, and close to the average in five. Rates were lowest in Sagadahoc and highest in Washington counties.

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

(Labor force estimates for substate areas, 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 in the same or other years.)

Statewide and Metro Area Not Seasonally Adjusted Hours and Earnings Estimates

The private sector workweek averaged 33.4 hours and earnings averaged $30.33 per hour in November. Average hours decreased 0.5 and hourly earnings increased 3.0 percent from a year earlier. Earnings increases were led by a 13 percent gain in manufacturing. The workweek was longest in construction and shortest in leisure and hospitality. Earnings were highest in professional and business services and lowest in leisure and hospitality.

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

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

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 2021 and 2022 revised and previously published estimates is available in this blog - https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/blogs/2023workforcedata_revisions.pdf

  2. The 90 percent confidence interval for the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November was between 2.3 and 3.7 percent.

  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 variable from month to month because the representativeness of reporting employers can differ. 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 2022 to September 2023 will be replaced with payroll data in March 2024. Those benchmark revisions usually show less monthly variability than preliminary estimates