MetroWest’s employment growth over the past year lagged behind the state, adding only 900 jobs during that time, according to new data labor data released this week.
The Framingham labor market, a 12-community area west of Boston, grew by only 0.5 percent. The unemployment rate for the Framingham market was 3.5 percent in February, however, better than the state rate of 4.2 percent, as the state reported earlier this month.
Other Massachusetts labor areas were far stronger. The New Bedford and Barnstable areas each grew by more than 3 percent in the 12-month period ending in February.
Statewide, the rate was 1.6 percent.
Two labor areas north of Boston actually saw employment drop. The five-community Lynn-Saugus-Marblehead market and the Lawrence and Methuen market, which also includes Salem, N.H., both saw slight decreases in the number of residents reporting working.
The Worcester market grew by 0.9 percent, adding only 2,500 jobs in that time.
Worcester’s market includes 46 cities and towns, including the northeasternmost corner of Connecticut, and from Northborough to the east to Barre in the west.
The Fitchburg-Leominster-Gardner area is a separate labor market that grew in the past year by 0.8 percent, adding only 400 jobs.
