Two different statistics show Maine's job market is stabilizing close to pre-pandemic levels, with unemployment claims back to levels from before the pandemic and unemployment lower in urban areas.
Perhaps the most telling is first-time claims for unemployment. The Maine Department of Labor reported Thursday that the number of first-time claims for unemployment hit 1,198 last week, after hovering between 1,051 and 1,253 over the last month. That roughly tracks pre-pandemic levels.
And the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday the jobless rate was lower this November than the last one in in all of the 390 metropolitan area across the U.S. that it tracks.
That includes Maine's three metropolitan areas: Portland-South Portland, Lewiston-Auburn, and Bangor.
Each saw its unemployment rate rise 0.2% from October to November, but that still left them with jobless rates lower in November 2021 than they were a year earlier.
Bangor's jobless rate is now 4.1%, Lewiston Auburn's is 4.5% and Portland-South Portland has an unemployment rate of 3.8%.
