Massachusetts has the highest unemployment rate in the country for the second month in a row, despite a small decline from June to July.
The July unemployment rate in Massachusetts was 16.1%, according to new figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which released its monthly report on Friday. In June, the Massachusetts unemployment rate was 17.4%.
Just behind Massachusetts is New York, with an unemployment rate of 15.9%, and Connecticut, with an unemployment rate of 10.2%.Â
The Massachusetts unemployment rate marked the greatest increase from the year prior. According to the report, that number increased 13.2 percentage points from July 2019.
Nationally, the unemployment rate fell to 10.2%, according to federal data, marking a decrease of .9 percentage points. The number of unemployed individuals dropped by 1.4 million, with 16.3 million people unemployed, according to BLS.Â
Nationally, the unemployment rate for women was slightly higher, coming in at 10.5% for July, compared to 9.4% for men. Disparities were even greater among different ethnicities, especially Black workers, for whom the unemployment rate was 14.6%, compared to 9.2% for white workers, according to federal data. The unemployment rate for Asian people, in turn, came in at 12%, and for Hispanic people, that figure was 12.9%.
