The only time the

unemployment rate was higher this year was in January and February
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

NORWAY – Seasonal layoffs in construction and the closing of the Robinson Manufacturing Co. woolen plant in Oxford caused last month’s area unemployment rate to inch up a notch to 6.7 percent.

The rate represents the third increase in three straight months, said Gerard Dennison, spokesman for the Maine Department of Labor. It went from 5.7 percent in September to 6.6 percent in October.

The number of unemployed people in the Oxford Hills, now 800, increased by 20 between October and November, Dennison said. The labor department defines the Oxford Hills market area as the towns of Norway, Paris, Oxford, Sumner, West Paris, Otisfield, Buckfield, Hebron and Minot.

Before about 80 people lost their jobs when the woolen mill closed this fall, the local unemployment rate had been below the nation’s for four consecutive months through August.

“The Robinson closing is another blow to the area’s eroding manufacturing base that has lost the battle to foreign competition,” Dennison said. Since October 2001, nine different manufacturing companies have laid off about 400 workers.

The only time the area unemployment rate was higher this year was in January and February, when it was 7.1 percent. The 6.7 percent unemployment rate for the Oxford Hills is 1.8 percent higher than the state’s unemployment rate of 4.9 percent.

The lowest November rate recorded in the Norway-Paris market area was 3.3 percent in 1987. The highest November rate was 10.4 percent in 1990.

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com

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