Mass. unemployment rate rises again in June
Photo | WBJ File
Workers assemble office furniture at Leominster manufacturer AIS.
The Massachusetts unemployment rate continued to increase in June for the second month in a row.
Increasing by 0.2 percentage points since May, the Massachusetts unadjusted unemployment rate sat at 4.0% in June, a figure 0.5 percentage points higher than in June 2023 yet was still 0.3 percentage points lower than the national average of 4.3%, 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.
An estimated 3,683,700 Massachusetts residents were employed in June with 122,900 residents unemployed. 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, increased by 0.4 percentage points to 65.7% from May, a 0.6 percentage point increase from June 2023.
The state gained 19,000 jobs in June with a total of 40,200 jobs gained since June 2023. Industries with the largest increase in jobs over-the-month were government, which gained 8,300 jobs; education and health services, which gained 5,800 jobs; and professional, scientific, and business services, which gained 3,300 jobs.
Leisure and hospitality lost 1,800 jobs over the month, the most of the 10 sectors analyzed by the BLS. Manufacturing was the only other industry to lose jobs with 200 lost in June.
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.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this article reported the adjusted unemployment rates for Massachusetts and the country, this version has been updated to reflect the unadjusted figures.
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