Job Picture Continues to Improve in Massachusetts
BOSTON — Local unemployment rates decreased in 13 labor-market areas, increased in six areas, and remained the same in five labor-market areas in the state during the month of May, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported. Compared to May 2017, the rates dropped in 23 labor-market areas and increased in one area.
Fourteen of the 15 areas for which job estimates are published recorded a seasonal job gain in May. The largest gains occurred in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Barnstable, Worcester, Framingham, and Haverhill-Newburyport-Amesbury areas. The Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton area lost jobs over the month.
From May 2017 to May 2018, all 15 areas added jobs, with the largest percentage gains in the Lynn-Saugus-Marblehead, Haverhill-Newburyport-Amesbury, Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Worcester areas.
In order to compare the statewide rate to local unemployment rates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the statewide-unadjusted unemployment rate for May was 3.3%.
Last week, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the month of May remained at 3.5% for the eighth consecutive month. The statewide seasonally adjusted jobs estimate showed a 6,200-job gain in May, and an over-the-year gain of 56,100 jobs.
The unadjusted unemployment rates and job estimates for the labor market areas reflect seasonal fluctuations and therefore may show different levels and trends than the statewide seasonally adjusted estimates. The estimates for labor force, unemployment rates and jobs for Massachusetts are based on different statistical methodology specified by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
