Daily News

Massachusetts Unemployment Creeps Down in September

BOSTON — The state’s September total unemployment rate was 3.4%, down two-tenths of a percentage point over-the-month, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary job estimates indicate Massachusetts gained 13,800 jobs in September. This follows August’s revised gain of 800 jobs. The largest over-the-month private-sector job gains were in leisure and hospitality, education and health services, and construction. Employment now stands at 3,691,700. Since the employment trough in April 2020, Massachusetts has gained 640,700 jobs.

From September 2021 to September 2022, BLS estimates Massachusetts gained 151,700 jobs. The largest over-the-year gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, education and health services, and professional, scientific, and business services.

The September unemployment rate of 3.4% was one-tenth of a percentage point below the national rate of 3.5% reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The labor force decreased by an estimated 13,500 from 3,763,000 in August, as 7,900 fewer residents were employed and 5,600 fewer residents were unemployed over-the-month. Over-the-year, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was down by 1.7%.

The state’s labor-force participation rate — the total number of residents 16 or older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks — dropped two-tenths of a percentage point to 65.6%, the same figure recorded in September 2021.