Indicator: 60 - Employment

Why This Is Important

These figures represent full- and part-time annual average employment, not including farm workers or self-employed people. This is an indicator of the number of jobs in Maine, unlike the unemployment rate, which is a measure of how many people are out of work.

While this indicator has limitations and does not address many employment issues, such as multiple job holdings and the quality of jobs, it does provide a fundamental measure of the State of Maine’s economy and is widely recognized as such.

Where We Stand

From 1996 to 2000, the number of jobs in Maine increased an average of 2.3% per year, though this growth slowed with the 2001 economic downturn. From 2000 to 2001, employment in Maine grew 0.9% while employment in New England and the nation as a whole grew 0.2%. Most of the job growth has been occurring in the non-manufacturing sector (including mining, wholesale and retail trade, construction, services, finance, insurance, real estate, transportation, communications and public utilities). In particular, from October 2001 to October 2002 Maine’s construction industry added 400 jobs (+1.3%), and service industries added 2,600 jobs (+1.4%). During the same period, manufacturing jobs dropped by 4.7%, a decline that has continued for more than a decade.

Data Sources and Context

Data for this indicator comes from the Maine Economic Growth Council’s Measures of Growth 2003; summary and analysis of data in that publication is done by the Maine Development Foundation. For this measure, the Foundation analyzed data from the Maine Department of Labor, Division of Labor Market Information Services, in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Measures of Growth 2003 is available on-line at http://mdf.org/megc.