Employment Picture Improves Slightly in Massachusetts
BOSTON — The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported that the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for August were down in most labor-market areas, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The preliminary statewide unadjusted unemployment rate estimate for August was 6.0%, down 0.1% from July. Over the year, the statewide unadjusted rate was down 1.0% from the August 2013 rate of 70%. During August, the Worcester area recorded a gain in jobs, while the remaining 11 areas for which job estimates are published reported losses. The largest losses occurred in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury areas.
Since August 2013, nine of the 12 areas added jobs, with the largest percentage gains in the Worcester, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Framingham, and Springfield areas. The Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner, Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, and Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury areas lost jobs. Job losses were impacted by temporary employment disruptions in the retail-trade sector.
The seasonally adjusted statewide August unemployment rate was 5.8%, up 0.2% over the month and down 1.4% over the year. The rate was 0.3% below the 6.1% national unemployment rate. The statewide, seasonally adjusted jobs estimate showed a 5,300-job loss in August and an over-the-year gain of 54,300 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.
