The Employment Situation in Maine - August 2025

September 19, 2025

Released: Friday, September 19 at 10 a.m.

Contact: Mark McInerney, 207-620-0197

The Employment Situation in Maine - August 2025

Preliminary estimates indicate both the number of jobs and unemployment have decreased slightly as the year has progressed.

These estimates are derived from two monthly surveys. The Current Population Survey collects information from households on labor force status, including labor force participation, employment, and unemployment. The Current Employment Statistics survey collects information from nonfarm employers by industry on the number of wage and salary jobs, hours worked, and wages paid to individuals on their payrolls. Both surveys are administered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Preliminary estimates from the two surveys sometimes diverge in direction or magnitude of change. Over extended periods they tend to be more aligned.

Seasonally Adjusted Statewide Labor Force Estimates

At 3.2 percent, unemployment was unchanged from July and from one year ago, and down slightly from the start of this year. The rate has been below four percent for 45 months the second longest such period and below the U.S. average for all but three months for more than 17 years. Unemployment continued to be below the long-term average of 5.4 percent for the state since January 1976, when the current methodology was adopted.

Unemployment averaged 4.1 percent for New England and 4.3 percent for the U.S. in the month.

*Note on Preliminary Unemployment Estimates: They should be considered in the context of whether they are below, near, or above historical or U.S. averages, rather than if they are up or down a few tenths of a point from some other month. The household survey sample they are derived from is large enough for direct estimates for the nation. For states it is much smaller and statistical modeling - https://www.bls.gov/lau/laumthd.htm is used to prevent large single-month changes that may overstate the magnitude or the direction of changes in labor market conditions.

One result of this is that preliminary unemployment rates for Maine tend to follow an undulating pattern, moving in one direction for several months and then the other through the course of a year. Revisions, published annually in March, have consistently smoothed these patterns. Upward or downward changes in preliminary unemployment or labor force participation rates often are not as indicative of improvement or deterioration in conditions as may appear. Though rates for many months will change when revised, unemployment rates for 2024 and to date in 2025 certainly will remain well below the long-term and national averages.*

Seasonally Adjusted Statewide Nonfarm Jobs Estimates

Preliminary seasonally adjusted estimates indicate nonfarm wage and salary jobs decreased by 400 in August and 2,300 from one year ago. The construction and the transportation, warehousing, and utilities sectors each accounted for about half of the decrease. That slippage was primarily in the last six months.

Nonfarm jobs estimates are derived from a survey of employers that report the number of workers on their payrolls. With each month of preliminary estimates, prior month data is revised, incorporating additional response. Each spring those estimates are again revised, benchmarked to a more complete count of jobs reported through employer tax records (this data lags by about six months). The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported their preliminary estimate of the national benchmark revision (that will be published in February 2026). They found that in March of this year there were 911,000 (0.6 percent) fewer jobs than previously thought - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/prebmk.pdf . They also found there were 2,300 (0.4 percent) more jobs than previously thought - https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/presae.pdf in Maine in March. It is not yet clear how estimates for other months may be revised when benchmarked. Since there were more jobs than estimated for March, there may have been somewhat more in subsequent months than currently official estimates indicate.

Among the three metro areas, unemployment was below the statewide average in Portland-S. Portland, and close to the average in Lewiston-Auburn and Bangor.

(Labor force estimates for substate areas, including unemployment rates, are not seasonally adjusted. Because of this, estimates for a certain month should be compared to the same month in other years and should not be compared to other months in the same or other years.)

Not Seasonally Adjusted Statewide and Metro Area Hours and Earnings Estimates

The private sector workweek averaged 33.2 hours and earnings averaged $32.24 per hour in August. Average hours decreased slightly, and hourly earnings increased 2.7 percent from a year ago. The workweek was longest in construction and shortest in leisure and hospitality. Earnings were highest in professional and business services and lowest in leisure and hospitality.

Hourly earnings were above the statewide average in Portland-S. Portland and below in the Bangor and Lewiston-Auburn metros.

NOTES:

1. Preliminary seasonally adjusted labor force estimates, including rates (labor force participation, employment, and unemployment rates), and levels (labor force, employed, and unemployed), as well as nonfarm wage and salary job estimates are inexact. Annual revisions (published in March each year) add accuracy. A comparison of 2023 and 2024 previously published to revised estimates is available in this blog: https://www.maine.gov/labor/cwri/sites/maine.gov.labor.cwri/files/publications/2025-03/2025WorkforceData_Revisions.pdf

2. The 90 percent confidence interval for the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August was between 2.4 and 3.9 percent.

3. Nonfarm wage and salary jobs from the payroll survey provide a better indication of changes in employment than resident employment from the household survey. The payroll survey is larger and has smaller margins of error.

4. Nonfarm payroll jobs estimates tend to be variable from month to month because the representativeness of reporting employers can differ. Seasonal adjustment is imperfect because weather, the beginning and ending of school semesters, and other events do not always occur with the same timing relative to the pay period that includes the 12th day of the month, which is the survey reference period. This sometimes exacerbates monthly changes in jobs estimates. Users should look to trends over multiple months rather than change from one specific month to another. Jobs estimates for the period from April 2024 to September 2025 will be replaced with payroll data in March 2026. Those benchmark revisions usually show less monthly variability than previously published estimates.

August 2025 Jobs Report Images (PDF)