Understanding the Employment Situation in Maine
On Friday May 22, the Center for Workforce Research and Information (CWRI) and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released April workforce estimates for Maine. These include estimates of the unemployment rate and the change in nonfarm payroll jobs. The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented job loss in Maine and the nation in the last two months. It also created significant data collection and estimation challenges. This document provides information on how these estimates are derived, what some of the challenges were for collection and estimation, and then answers some questions we expect to arise. How this data is collected The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics enters into cooperative agreements with state workforce agencies to collaboratively produce and disseminate workforce data. Two programs, Current Employment Statistics (CES) and Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS), are designed to provide a monthly indication of workforce conditions and trends. Data from those prog