Maine's unemployment rate rose in August to 2.5%. It was 2.4% in July.
The Maine Department of Labor says the slight increase was the result of more people starting to look for work last month. In fact, employers created 2,800 new, non-farm jobs last month.
A similar trend led to an increase in the national unemployment rate to 3.8% in August. Maine also did better than the New England average, which was 2.7%.
It was the 21st consecutive month that unemployment has been below 4% in Maine, the third longest such streak the state has ever seen.
The leisure and hospitality sector created an estimated, 2,200 more jobs, for a total of 67,300 jobs. That brought it closer to the sector's 2019, pre-pandemic average of 70,100 jobs.
