The Massachusetts unemployment rate saw a slight uptick in July over June, rising from 6.0 to 6.1 percent, but was down 1.3 percentage points over last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Bay State was one of 17 states nationwide and Washington, D.C., to see a significant drop from July 2011.
According to the monthly BLS report, unemployment in New England rose to 7.1 from 6.8 in June. July’s rate is down 0.7 percentage points from last year. Overall, New England’s unemployment picture continued to look better than the county’s national rate of 8.3, which was unchanged from June.
Four New England states had lower-than-average unemployment rates, with Vermont coming in at the fifth lowest (5.0 percent) in the country. Also below the national average were Maine at 7.6 percent, New Hampshire at 5.4 percent and Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Rhode Island’s was the second highest at 10.8 percent, behind only Nevada. Connecticut’s rate for July was slightly higher than the national average at 8.5 percent.
The BLS said three New England states posted significant unemployment rate changes – which were all increases – over June with Connecticut up 0.4 percentage point and New Hampshire and Vermont’s rising 0.3 percentage points.
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