Maine’s unemployment rate ticked down a notch in January, reaching its lowest level since 2001. At the same time, wages are rising in Maine.
Maine’s payroll in January was up by more than 4,000 jobs when compared to the previous January, and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent. And evidence is mounting that pay is getting better.
“In a zero-inflation environment that’s making those gains more substantial,” says Glenn Mills, chief economist with the state Labor Department. “So it does appear that the tightening labor market is causing employers to bid up wages. It’s a more competitive environment trying to find people.”
One federal measure of wage growth shows pay rising 3.3 percent from the third quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of last year. That was the seventh highest overall pay raise in the U.S., and higher than in any other New England state.
But as economist Glenn Mills notes, while job prospects may be fairly robust in southern Maine, the picture is bleaker in northern and rural counties stung by a string of mill closings, the latest in Madison.