Maine’s unemployment rate dipped to 4.1 percent in November, down slightly from October as the estimate of people employed and seeking work continued to fall.
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The U.S. Labor Department said Nebraska’s November rate came in just above North Dakota’s 2.7 percent.
Bi-county data indicated payrolls expanded by the widest margin in the retail trade sector, reflecting a holiday season hiring binge, with 12,600 new positions. The private service-providing sector, at 3,778,200, added 3,700 jobs.
The agency said the state’s non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in November was 5.7 percent.
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases when compared to a year earlier, four states had increases, and one state had no change. Montana’s job total was flat last month. Gains were seen in all industries: leisure and hospitality (+17,700), educational and health services (+17,500), trade, transportation, and utilities (+11,500), financial activities (+8,100), information (+1,800), other services (+1,700), and professional and business services (+500). Construction posted the largest gains on a percentage basis, up 5.9 percent (adding 41,000 jobs).
Looking over the longer term, employers added 73,000 jobs between November of past year and this November, for a growth rate of 1.7 percent. The Lincoln rate also dropped two-tenths of a point, to 2.1 percent, and was also two-tenths of a point under the November 2014 figure.
The top counties, in order, were San Mateo, Marin, San Francisco and Santa Clara.
Nonfarm jobs in California totaled 16,258,000 in November, an increase of 5,500 jobs over the month, according to a survey of businesses that is larger and less variable statistically.
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Over the past year, the construction industry added 1,500 jobs, and business and professional service sector grew by 1,600 workers. The largest percentage loss, 9.3 percent or 2,900 jobs, was in mining and logging.
