New England’s unemployment rate remained below the national average for the third year in the row, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The commonwealth also joined 26 other states that have a lower rate than the national average, according to the federal data.
The U.S. jobless rate ended 2010 at 9.6 percent while the New England region ended the year with an 8.5-percent unemployment rate.
New Hampshire (6.1 percent), Vermont (6.2 percent), Maine (7.9 percent), Massachusetts (8.5 percent) and Connecticut (9.1 percent) had average unemployment rates better than the national average in 2010. Rhode Island had an 11.5-percent unemployment rate last year.
