Mass. unemployment rate dropped again in September, falling below national average
Photo | Edd Cote
UMass Memorial Health Care is one of the region's largest employers.
Unemployment in Massachusetts dropped nearly a full percentage point in September, continuing a steady decline after the state experienced its highest unemployment rate in a year in July.
The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate fell 0.9 percentage points from 4.5% in August to 3.6% in September, a rate 0.5 percentage points higher than in September 2023.
The state’s rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than the nation’s of 3.9 percent, according to a Friday press release from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Massachusetts labor force rose by an estimated 3,016 to 5.80 million residents of working age in September, reflecting the state’s largest working age population in 2024. On the other hand, the state’s labor force participation rate, a category defined as the number of residents 16 years and older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks, dropped to 65.8%in September, a 1.5-percentage-points decrease from August.
With 49,394 fewer residents employed and 39,310 fewer unemployed over-the-month, 3,677,773 residents were employed throughout the commonwealth in September
The education and health services field gained the most jobs from August to September, gaining 2,500 jobs and reflecting a 23,800-job increase over the year.
The government industry lost 7,200 jobs in September, the most of the 10 sectors analyzed by BLS. Still, the field experienced 4,600 jobs added in the past year.
Since unemployment rate estimates are gathered through a monthly sample of households and job estimates are collected via a monthly sample survey of employers, the two statistics may show divergent monthly trends, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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