The unemployment rate in Massachusetts rose to 4.2 percent in May — up from 3.9 percent in April — as the state added 2,900 jobs, according to an announcement Thursday from the state Executive Office of Labor & Workforce Development.
The state unemployment rate remains lower than the national rate of 4.3 percent. Since May 2016, Massachusetts has added 58,300 jobs.
In May, the industry sectors with the biggest employment gains were education and health services (2,500 new jobs); leisure and hospitality (1,300); professional, scientific and business services (500); information (500); and construction (300). The sectors with the biggest losses were trade, transportation and utilities (800), finance (600) and manufacturing (200).
Massachusetts now has 3.7 million people participating in the labor force, as 4,900 more residents were employed and 12,200 more residents were unemployed from April to May. The state’s labor force participation rate – the total number of residents 16 or older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks – was 66.7 percent, an increase of 1.7 percent from May 2016.
