WalletHub - The unemployment situation in Maine is improving, with last week’s claims 6.88% lower than in the previous week and 2.40% lower than last year, according to WalletHub’s updated rankings for the States Where Unemployment Claims Are Decreasing the Most.
Unemployment Situation in Maine (1=Best; 25=Avg.):
- Overall Rank for Maine: 7th
- 5th – Unemployment Claims Decrease vs. Previous Week
- 24th – Unemployment Claims Decrease vs. Same Week Last Year
- 13th – Cumulative Unemployment Claims in 2025 vs. Same Period Last Year
- 6th – Unemployment Claims per 100,000 People in Labor Force
Press Herald -
If it seems like a lot of people are running to be the next governor of Maine, it’s because there are. So far, 18 people have filed paperwork with the state to begin raising and spending money on a campaign — the most at this point for an open seat in more than 20 years. Read more on Maine's crowded governor's race
More than a third of Maine is now in moderate drought, thanks in part to weeks of dry weather and extreme heat, according to new data released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor, with much of the rest of the state facing conditions just shy of an official drought. And with little rain in the forecast, the already dry conditions are likely to worsen by the end of the month, according to the National Weather Service. See where drought conditions are affecting Maine.
Newsbreak - A new Maine law will help alleviate some of the stress felt by employees who get sent home early: The Maine Legislature’s “An Act to Require Minimum Pay for Reporting to Work”
According to the Maine Legislature website, the act laid out in LD598 became law without the governor’s signature on June 24th, 2025. The law requires businesses to pay an hourly employee who was scheduled to work by the employee money if they were cut early. Employees will either get two hours of pay or the remainder of the pay they would have gotten if they had finished their shift – whichever is a smaller amount of money.
It is important to note that the new law only applies to businesses of a certain size. A business must have at least 10 regular employees. Basically, this protects the very smallest of Maine businesses from being shackled with this new expense.
Also, if an employer can prove that they attempted to contact the employee before the report to work for that particular shift, they are not required to provide that compensation.
The law takes effect on September 24th, 2025.
Press Herald - Maine’s former CDC director, Dr. Nirav Shah, is considering a run for governor. “I think we are in a moment where all of us should be considering running for something,” Shah said in an exclusive interview with the Press Herald Friday. “I’m considering throwing my hat into the governor’s race.”
Shah said that if he ran, it would be as a Democrat. “I’m considering, but have not yet committed to running,” he said. He said he didn’t have a timetable for when he would make a final decision
Press Herald - The unemployment rate in Maine is on a historic run, and the state’s metropolitan areas have some of the lowest jobless rates in the nation, according to recent federal data.
Among 387 metro areas in the country analyzed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in June, the Portland-South Portland area had the third-lowest unemployment rate at 2.2%. Only two metro areas — Sioux Falls and Rapid City, both in South Dakota — had lower rates.
Lewiston-Auburn tied for 19th with a 2.9% unemployment rate, and the Bangor region tied for 28th at 3.0%.
The drivers of low jobless rates in these areas are distinct. Experts say housing development has given Lewiston-Auburn a boost, Bangor is seeing an increase in tourist traffic, and the life sciences industry has been flocking to Portland.
Press Herald- Residents of cold-weather states like Maine feel the health effects of heat at much lower temperatures than those in hotter states, a 2015 Harvard University study found, yet most do not believe local heat waves to be that dangerous, according to a 2019 study from Yale University and University of Utah.
Maine’s demographics and infrastructure make it especially vulnerable. Nearly a quarter of the population is 65 or older and the housing stock is among the oldest in the nation. And although the increasing use of heat pumps is helping, the number of Mainers with some form of cooling in their homes continues to lag behind the rest of New England — 78% compared with almost 90%.
While Maine has taken some steps to address the growing issue, including funding new cooling centers and passing a law to prevent utilities from cutting off power during heat waves, lawmakers have passed up opportunities to set temperature limits for nursing homes and workplaces.
So far this year, 294 Mainers have gone to the hospital to seek heat-related treatment, according to Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s public health tracker. The largest number of those, 46, occurred on June 24, the hottest day Maine has recorded so far this year.