May unemployment rates in Maine are holding steady, clocking in just a tick above April’s rate of 3.4 percent.
Preliminary data released Friday by the Maine Department of Labor show May’s unemployment rate at 3.5 percent, a full 1 percent below the same month in 2015, when the rate was 4.5 percent.
The unemployment rate, calculated with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, measures the percentage of the population looking for work or unemployed.
The U.S. rate for May was 4.7 percent, down from 5.0 percent in April and down from 5.5 percent one year ago.
The number of unemployed people in Maine declined 6,600 over the year to 23,800, according to the Department of Labor release.
The New England unemployment rate averaged 4.4 percent. Rates for other states were 2.7 percent in New Hampshire, 3.1 percent in Vermont, 4.2 percent in Massachusetts, 5.4 percent in Rhode Island and 5.7 percent in Connecticut.
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