Unemployment Rates in Northern New England (Manchester, Rochester: real estate, home, minimum wage)

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Some of the most recent statistics I could find for unemployment rates shows cities in Maine/New Hampshire/Vermont having among the lowest unemployment rates in the US (along with the Great Plains region, ND energy boom etc..).

Bureau of Labor Statistics reports for June, 2011 unemployment

1 Bismarck, ND - 3.6%
2 Lincoln, NE - 4.1%
3 Fargo, ND-MN - 4.2%
4 Sioux Falls, SD - 4.5%
5 Portsmouth, NH-ME - 4.6%
5 Rapid City, SD - 4.6%
7 Burlington-South Burlington, VT - 4.8%
8 Iowa City, IA - 4.9%
8 Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA - 4.9%
10 Grand Forks, ND-MN - 5.1%
11 Manchester, NH - 5.2%
13 - Rochester-Dover, NH-ME - 5.4%
28 - Portland, ME - 6.1%

Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas

What are the realities of the economy in Northern New England? Certainly the realities of the nation wide recession creates anxiety and felt like anywhere else. I wonder what the stats of the underemployed are in the region. Otherwise what's keeping these low rates standing? Portsmouth is pretty impressive at 4.6% which is half the national average. Only large employers I can think of is the Naval Shipyard and Pease. Are they fairing well or what else is going on up there? All three states are friendly to small businesses (Burlington, VT being a standout in that category), are they doing better than most? Any talk of green energy proposals in the region? What is stimulating the economy there as opposed to Providence, RI at 10.4% or the average California small metro where places like Modesto, Fresno etc. are at +16%? How is real estate holding up in the region? I know there isn't a gravy train rolling through the Nothern New England states like there is in North Dakota. I'm just curious to know how the economic engine of the region is really holding up.

[FrugalYankee]

When you say Burlington Vermont is a standout in the category of being friendly to small businesses, I assume you mean "exception" as opposed to standing out positively. The entire state is anything BUT friendly to small business!

I don't have statistics to back up my opinion, only my anecdotal observation that many of us are self employed or freelance and so do not count as unemployed as far as statistics go. Interestingly some companies consider "self employed" to be the same thing as "unemployed" when hiring.

There was no recent boom so correspondingly there was also no recent bust in real estate. Currently average time to sell a home in my necy of the woods is 18 months.

I think the region took its hit back in the 70s when a lot of manufacturing jobs went south before migrating to China and had already begun the process of developing other sectors.

[buck naked]

one reason NH numbers are so low nationwide is because it is a state full of retirees and the self-employed. 100's of people apply for minimum wage jobs.

[Brave Stranger]

Most people who have moved to northern New England move here for the quality of life. They take less pay, and will work several part-time jobs. Lot's of retiees like Buck said up here also. IMO these 3 states offer the best quality of life in the USA.