AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine labor officials said Friday the state experienced its sharpest surge in unemployment in its history in April as companies shed jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The state had a 10.6% unemployment rate in April, the highest on record, the Maine Department of Labor said.
The 7.4 percentage point increase was also the largest for a one- or two-month period under the current methodology, which was adopted in the 1970s, department said.
The trends in Maine were similar to those around the country, which transitioned to widespread stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures in March and April.
The U.S. unemployment rate was 14.7%.
The Maine labor department said in a statement the numbers still do not “fully reflect the magnitude of job loss that has occurred,” because the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the labor market in many ways.
