Leisure and hospitality take hard hits in Maine

According to the Maine Department of Labor, the rate of unemployment reached its peak of 8.3 per cent in the Great Recession. In the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, the number of unemployed people was around 60,000. But the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the worst in terms of unemployment, with a staggering 59.4 per cent of jobs wiped out in the sector. According to the data, 42,600 jobs were lost in the months of March and April alone. Read the report here.