Greater Worcester unemployment rate rises above milestone for first time since 2021
Photo I Courtesy Phillips Precision
The Greater Worcester unemployment rate rose in February.
Unemployment in Greater Worcester rose again in February in congruence with the state’s overall upward trend.
The unadjusted unemployment rate in Greater Worcester rose from 4.8% in January to 5.2% in February. The month’s statistic was nearly 1.0 percentage point higher than February 2024, when unemployment sat at 4.4%, according to the data released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, using information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This is the first time the unemployment rate in Greater Worcester was above 5% since August 2021, according to BLS.
Unlike in previous years, the EOLWD has consolidated its labor market distinctions to reflect the new delineations based on the 2020 Census, according to the BLS. Therefore, only Greater Worcester’s isolated statistics are provided, while Framingham’s are combined with other Middlesex County communities. Athol and Leominster-Gardner are now omitted.
Unemployment in Greater Framingham also inched upwards in February, rising 0.3 percentage points to 4.5%, a rate 0.7 percentage points higher than February 2024 when unemployment was 3.8%. Greater Framingham’s rate now includes Cambridge and Newton due to the BLS’s new market distinctions.
The Worcester metro area experienced a marginal increase in its labor force in February, growing by 191 people to 473,919 in February. At the same time, the number of people employed fell in February by 1,382 to 449,447 individuals employed.
The number of unemployed residents rose by 1,573 people for a total of 24,472.
Greater Framingham lost 2,822 members of its labor force in February, falling to a total of 1,405,144. The region also saw a decrease in its employed population and a rise in its unemployed population with 1,341,701 employed, 6,779 fewer than in January, and 63,443 unemployed, 3,957 more people than in January.
The Cambridge-Newton-Framingham labor market once again tied for the lowest unemployment rate of the 12 regions analyzed along with the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area.
The unemployment rate increased in all 12 regions in the state. The statewide unemployment rate was 4.3% in February, while the national rate was 4.1%.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments