NEW: Unemployment Rate Dips to 6.4 percent in Massachusetts

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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

GoLocalWorcester News Team

The March unemployment rate dropped more than 1 percent from last month, from 7.5 percent to 6.4, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. The number also represented a decline from this time last year, when the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent.

Governor Deval Patrick said, “Massachusetts is emerging from recession faster and stronger than the nation. Today's jobs numbers and the reaffirmed numbers for 2011 are further proof. Our progress comes from our consistent focus on education, innovation and infrastructure. We will keep at that strategy until everyone who wants a job can find one.”

The news was especially good in Worcester, which was among those areas making the largest job gains. Gains were also realized in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Springfield, Barnstable and Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton areas.

The largest over-the-month rate of job growth, 1.5 percent, happened in the Barnstable area. Overall, the rates, which are seasonally unadjusted, were down in all 22 labor areas. Compared to the same time last year, nine of the 12 areas in the state where rates are measured saw job gains, the most noticeable being in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Barnstable, Framingham, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Peabody areas. The largest percentage gains occurred in the Barnstable, Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Peabody areas.

The seasonally adjusted statewide March unemployment rate, released on April 19, was 6.5 percent, a drop of 0.4 of a percentage point from February. It was down 1.0 percentage point from the 7.5 percent rate recorded in March 2011. The statewide seasonally adjusted jobs estimate showed an 8,700 job gain over the month.

The unadjusted unemployment rates and job estimates for the labor market areas reflect seasonal fluctuations and may show different levels and trends than the statewide seasonally adjusted estimates.

The local area unemployment rates and labor force data have been revised for 2007 through 2011. The April 2012 unemployment rate, labor force data, and jobs estimates for Massachusetts will be released May 17. Local unemployment statistics will be released May 22.