PORTLAND, Maine - Maine's unemployment fell to its lowest point in nearly eight years with a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.7 percent in April.
State labor officials say the April rate is a drop of 0.1 percentage points from March, and 1.1 points from a year ago. They also say the number of unemployed people fell 8,300 over the course of the year to 32,100.
Maine's employment to population ratio of 60.2 percent was above the nationwide rate of 59.3 percent. The nationwide preliminary unemployment rate for March was 5.4 percent. New England averaged 5 percent.
Officials say Vermont had the lowest unemployment rate in New England at 3.6 percent while Connecticut had the highest at 6.3 percent.