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December 9, 2011

Another View: Little for administration to cheer in state's slow job growth

Gov. LePage's economic development chief may claim progress, but the numbers aren't there.

By JOHN BELL

Not to disparage Department of Economic and Community Development Commisioner George Gervais' ebullient assessment of the LePage administration's improvement to Maine's business climate, but let's keep things in perspective ("Maine Voices: Improvements in state business climate pays off in jobs for Mainers," Dec. 3).

The commissioner is correct in asserting that Maine's unemployment rate decreased from 7.7 percent to 7.3 percent since July, a difference of 0.4 percentage points.

During the same time frame, unemployment nationally decreased by 0.5 percentage points.

Since January of this year, Maine unemployment decreased 0.2 percentage points (7.5 percent to 7.3 percent) while the national figure dropped 0.4 percentage points.

These figures, courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, would indicate that since the LePage Administration took office, the unemployment picture in Maine has improved only half as well as the country at large.

Hardly something to crow about.

John Bell is a resident of Arundel.

 

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