Not so long ago politics in Augusta was a one-party affair. Liberal politicians and liberal interest groups called the shots, and government typically served their interests, not the interests of Maine’s businesses and families. But 2010 brought about a landmark change in the attitude of influential policymakers in Maine.

Rather than the domination of labor unions and anti-business extremists, conservative political leaders started to embrace policies inspired by economic freedom. On taxes, health insurance, workers comp, regulation, and myriad other fronts, conservatives started working with and for – not against – job creators. And now, nearly four years later, that long-abandoned respect for the power of free markets and entrepreneurs is bearing fruit.

Maine’s unemployment rate, at 5.5 percent, is the lowest it’s been in six years, and since 2010 businesses have created more than 20,000 private sector jobs. From coffee shops in Portland to tissue factories in Washington County, opportunities for employment are increasing for Mainers. Just last week, Auburn-based Pioneer Plastics Corporation announced it will add 140 new jobs over the next two years.

These new jobs are pathways to a better life for Mainers. And this is a refreshing change from pre-2010, when every other week gave way to the shuttering of major employers, or so it seemed.

Critics of the free market have argued that Maine’s economy is not doing well under these conservative economic policies. But in order to reach that conclusion, commentators are cherry-picking data in ways that are not entirely useful – or honest.

The first tactic liberals are using to cast negativity on the state’s economy is comparing us with other states in terms of recovery from the Great Recession. That’s not very useful because Maine’s economy didn’t suffer to the same extent from the recession as did other states.

The employment losses that followed from the financial crisis of 2008 were most severe in the financial and housing sectors – sectors not predominant in Maine. Yes, plenty of Mainers lost their jobs – but not as many Arizonians, Nevadans and New Yorkers. So claiming that Maine’s post-recession recovery hasn’t been as speedy as other states doesn’t tell us much; it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

The second tactic liberals use to inaccurately portray Maine’s three-year-long economic turnaround is to ignore demographic realities. It’s a well-known fact that Maine’s population is among the slowest growing (if it’s growing at all) and the oldest populations in the United States. When workers are retiring at a greater rate, and when workers are leaving the state and few are entering, measures of job growth are lower.

If you look at job creation rates without controlling for demographic changes, the result is a skewed perception of what’s really happening in Maine’s economy. But that doesn’t stop LePage’s critics from ignoring these demographic facts in an attempt to hurl politically motivated mud.

What should we actually be looking at?

Well, the unemployment rate has long been the top indicator of economic health. Now, Maine’s not quite North Dakota (2.7 percent) or Utah (3.5 percent), but we’re tied with Colorado, Massachusetts, and Ohio with the 19th lowest unemployment rate in the country – that’s impressive, especially for a state that has struggled to retain large employers over the last few decades.

Equally, if not more important than the unemployment rate is the employment-to-population ratio – especially if our aim is state-by-state comparison. Don’t just take my word for it: Even Glen Mills, chief economist for the Maine Department of Labor, has said the employment-to-population ratio is the best measure to compare Maine with other states.

This ratio, also known as the workforce participation rate, measures the proportion of a state’s working-age population that is employed. (Unlike the unemployment rate, this figure includes those who have given up looking for work.)

If we take the advice of the state’s top economist and focus on workforce participation, we find that Maine ranks in the upper half of all states, with a rate of 61.6 percent.

None of this is to say that Maine’s economy isn’t still struggling. It is. But the trajectory we’re on suggests that policymakers should continue to implement policies that respect economic freedom as the surest path to mass prosperity.

Peter V. Anania is chairman of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, on the board of the Windham Economic Development Corporation and a former Windham town councilor.