State jobless rate falls to 4.7 percent
FREEDIGITALPHOTOS.net
Massachusetts’ unemployment rate ticked down for the seventh straight month in April, reaching its lowest point since January 2008.
April’s 4.7 percent unemployment rate is a decline of 0.1 percent points from March’s rate of 4.8 percent, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) reported Thursday. The April rate also represents a 1.1 percent drop from April 2014’s unemployment rate of 5.8 percent.
The state’s unemployment rate remains lower than the national rate of 5.4 percent.
The new preliminary job estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate the state picked up 10,100 jobs in April, marking the eighth consecutive month of job gains, the EOLWD said. Of the 10,100 jobs, 9,700 were in the private sector. Education and health services (4,500 jobs); and professional, scientific, and business services (3,700) had the largest job gains during the month. At the other end of the list, the manufacturing sector lost 2,300 jobs in April; and trade, transportation and utilities lost 900.
April 2015 estimates show that 3,464,500 Massachusetts residents were employed and 169,400 were unemployed. Compared with April 2014, there were 37,700 fewer unemployed people.
The share of working-age residents employed or unemployed, also known as the labor participation rate, rose 0.1 percentage point in April. At 66.3 the rate is the highest since May 2010, and it was the third straight month the labor participation rose. Compared with April 2014, the labor participation rate increased 1.1 percent over the year, the EOLWD said.
The BLS also revised its March job figure, reporting the state gained 12,100 positions instead of the 10,500 the BLS estimated last month.
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