Mass. unemployment rate rises to record 16.3% in May
Photo | Grant Welker
Vacant storefronts on Pleasant Street in Worcester
The May unemployment rate for Massachusetts hit 16.3%, beating a record high set only a month before, according to state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development data released Friday.
That gives Massachusetts a tie for fourth-worst unemployment rate nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state's unemployment rate, which ties Rhode Island's, is better than only three other states: Michigan (21.2%), and two states that rely heavily on tourism, Hawaii (22.6%) and Nevada (25.3%). The national unemployment rate in May was 13.3%, an improvement from a rate of 14.7% a month prior and a number federal officials said was surprisingly low.
April's rate in Massachusetts was initially reported at 15.1%, the highest monthly unemployment rate since records started being kept in 1976. That number has since been revised up to 16.2%. May's number beat it by one-tenth of a percentage point, indicating how economic pain from the coronavirus pandemic has lasted even while the state's virus case numbers and deaths have improved since peaking in April.
[Related: Mass. unemployment claims surpass 1M as U.S. surpasses 46M]
Most industries added jobs in May compared to April, as some sectors of the economy returned to some sense of normalcy. Construction, for example, added 17,400 jobs, up 16.5%, according to the state, and leisure and hospitality jobs grew by 12,400, or 9%. Education and health services jobs grew by 11,100, or 1.5%.
But those and other major Massachusetts industries continue to be down significantly from before the pandemic hit. Leisure and hospitality jobs are down nearly 60% in the past year, and construction jobs are down by nearly a quarter.
In May, government jobs declined by 7,100 jobs and are down by nearly 35,000 this year, indicating that significant drops in tax revenue may already be having a major effect on state and municipal budgets.
The unemployment rate in April for the Worcester metropolitan area was 14.4%. Its May rate hasn't yet been reported.
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