2007 Maine Marks
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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

Maine’s total employment grew an average of 1.6% annually over the seven years ending in 2003. Thereafter, job growth stagnated remaining virtually constant at 611,700 jobs from 2004 to 2005. Employment in manufacturing continues to shrink, once comprising 17% of Maine’s employment in 1990, but declining to 10% in 2005. Employment in health care has grown from 10% of overall Maine employment to a 2005 proportion of 15.4% over the same measurement period.

Data Source and Context

Data for this indicator comes from the Maine Economic Growth Council’s Measures of Growth 2007; 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 2007 is available on-line at http://www.mdf.org/megc/measures/megc2007.pdf