Maine versus New Hampshire II
The other day I was looking over various labor data in Maine when I noticed divergent trends in 2007 for Maine versus New Hampshire. In particular, Maine’s number of unemployed has been trending up in 2007 from less than 32,000 in January, 2007 to over 36,000 by December, 2007. On the other hand, New Hampshire’s unemployed has been trending downward from just under 28,000 in January, 2007 to over 26,000 in December, 2007. With a national recession looming, Maine’s economy has already been losing steam while New Hampshire’s economy has not.
In addition, a look at the total civilian labor force yields clues into the long-term sustainability of our two economies. In 2007, Maine’s labor force has been shrinking–starting at over 715,000 in January, 2007 and ending below 710,000 in December 2007. This may be an early warning of things to come due to Maine’s rapidly aging workforce. Again, New Hampshire has been trending opposite to Maine’s with their labor force growing from just under 745,000 in January, 2007 to just under 750,000 in December, 2007. Beyond the trend itself, note that on average, New Hampshire’s labor force is bigger by 30,000 to 40,000 people despite having nearly identical populations.
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