Massachusetts Unemployment Inches Up in August

BOSTON — The state’s August total unemployment rate was 2.6%, up 0.1 percentage point from the revised July estimate of 2.5%, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) preliminary job estimates indicate Massachusetts gained 15,400 jobs in August, following July’s revised gain of 4,600 jobs. The largest over-the-month private-sector job gains were in education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and other services. Employment now stands at 3,788,700.

From August 2022 to August 2023, BLS estimates Massachusetts gained 90,500 jobs. The largest over-the-year gains occurred in education and health services; professional, scientific, and business services; and leisure and hospitality.

The state’s August unemployment rate of 2.6% was 1.2% below the national rate of 3.8% reported by BLS.

The labor force grew by an estimated 2,000 from the revised estimate of 3,715,300 in July, as 4,300 fewer residents were employed and 6,300 more residents were unemployed over-the-month.

Over-the-year, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was down by 1.3%

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 — remained unchanged at 64.5% over-the-month. Compared to August 2022, the labor-force participation rate was down 0.6%.