Aug 17, 2009

June was gloomy month for economyBy Stephen BettsKnox.VillageSoup.com

Retail and home sales were as dampened as the weather during June.

Retail sales for the Midcoast totaled $41.5 million, down 15 percent from June 2008. Local retailers took in nearly $7.3 million less in income compared with a year ago.

This was the 12th month out of the past 13 that retail sales have been down from the same month a year earlier. The one exception was in July 2008 when sales rose 1 percent from July 2007.

Home sales were also down during June in both the number of sales and the median price of those homes being sold.

June this year had the most rain of any June on record, according to Aqua Maine Water Company. Records of precipitation at Mirror Lake have been kept since 1913.

Unemployment in June was also at its highest level for Knox County since 1983 with a rate of 7.4 percent, according to the Maine Department of Labor. In Knox County in June, there were 19,870 people working with 1,590 people listed as unemployed. This means at least 654 more people are out of work this year than a year ago.

The drop in retail sales was in every category of business, according to the June report from the Maine Bureau of Revenue Services.

Building supply businesses generated the most revenue of any category compiled by the state with sales at $8.5 million during June. This was down 21 percent, however, from the $10.7 million in sales in June 2008.

Read complete article.