The Massachusetts unemployment rate in February fell for the second month in a row, after a slight uptick to end 2023.
The statewide unemployment rate was 2.9% in February, down from 3.0% in January, according to data released Friday by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor & Workforce Development. The February rate is below the 3.6% statewide rate from a year ago, in February 2023.
February’s slight dip following a similar one in January, where the unemployment rate dropped to 3.0% from 3.2% in December. That reversed the two-month trend where the unemployment rate rose from 2.8% in October to 3.2% in December, although all those numbers are near historic lows and below the unemployment rates from one year prior.
Massachusetts in February was a full percentage point below the national rate of 3.9%.
In Central Massachusetts, the unemployment rates rose slightly to start the year and in January ranged from 3.0% in Greater Framingham to 4.0% in the Leominster-Gardner metro region. The local unemployment rates for February are due to be released on April 3.
