Massachusetts was the only state in September to see an increase in unemployment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Friday release. The rate grew from 5.0% to 5.2% from August to September, putting Massachusetts 0.4 percentage points above the national average of 4.8%.
This marks the second consecutive month Massachusetts’ unemployment rate has increased since its initial jump of 13.7 percentage points at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. It plateaued at 4.9% in June and July before rising in August.
The rate is still considerably lower than the 8.9% of Sept. 2020, but higher than the pre-pandemic 3.0% of Sept. 2019.
The Commonwealth was one of 28 states to have a statistically significant change in its unemployment rate last month, as 22 states remained basically stable through the month.
Despite rising unemployment, the state added 11,900 jobs in September, which is a 0.3% growth from the jobs added in August. Since Sept. 2020, 175,200 total jobs have been added. Massachusetts has added jobs at the fourth highest rate over the last year.
