Unemployment in Maine rose slightly in July for a third straight month.
The increases have been just .1 percent and still leave the state with a very low 3 percent jobless rate. This marks the 32nd consecutive month that the jobless rate was under 4 percent. That’s the longest such period on record.
The state labor department said Maine added 5,700 non-farm jobs in the past year. 5,400 of those were in the private sector. All told, the state has 628, non-farm payroll jobs with 527,900 in the private sector. Governments employ an estimated 100,600 Mainers.
Unemployment last month was lowest in Sagadahoc County and highest in Somerset and Washington Counties. Maine's overall 3 percent jobless rate was lower than Massachusetts at 3.6 percent, Rhode Island at 4.1 percent and Connecticut at 4.4 percent. Vermont, at 2.8 percent, and New Hampshire at 2.7 percent, had lower unemployment rates than Maine.
The percentage of Mainers working stood at 61.8 percent for a third straight month. That's still above the U.S. average of 60.5 percent.
