The state’s unemployment rate — once the highest in the U.S. — was down 2.4 percentage points in October to 7.4%, the lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Massachusetts is now listed as having the 13th worst rate in the nation, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Hawaii and then Nevada are the worst.
Job growth continues to slow after unprecedented losses, statistics show. But economists welcomed the news that the Bay State’s jobless rate in October was only half a percentage point higher than the 6.9% rate for the nation. As recently as July, Massachusetts had had the nation’s highest unemployment rate — 16.1%.
“The economic impact of COVID-19 is steadily falling,” said Jay Zagorsky, an economist at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. “Back in June, Massachusetts had almost two-thirds of a million — 653,906 — people who were unemployed. The numbers released today show unemployment is now down to slightly more than one-quarter of a million — 268,514. As long as Massachusetts can avoid another complete shutdown, I think the worst times for the labor market are behind us.”
The 11,400 jobs added in October were less than a third of September’s growth, though, and the smallest month-over-month increase since May, according to a survey of employers.
Total employment in Massachusetts remains nearly 360,000 jobs below its peak in February, before the virus hit.
Starting in May, when the Baker administration began a phased reopening plan, increases in Massachusetts total non-farm payroll surged, surpassing 50,000 for four straight months.
But based on a survey of households, officials estimated that the labor force in Massachusetts lost 155,600 workers in September, meaning those people effectively stopped looking for jobs.
“Today’s Massachusetts jobs numbers were a bit of a mixed bag,” said Christopher Carlozzi, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business. “While it is encouraging to see the state unemployment rate drop again, it is discouraging to see so many individuals remove themselves from the workforce altogether.”
The largest monthly job growth in October came in the trade, transportation and utilities sector, which added 10,300 positions. Other industries that reported gains were professional, scientific and business services, construction, manufacturing, financial activities and other services.
Education and health services cut 4,400 positions in October, more losses than any other sector tracked by the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, while government lost 4,200 jobs. Information as well as leisure and hospitality also reported small losses.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
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November 21, 2020 at 06:25AM
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Massachusetts’s unemployment rate — once the highest in the U.S. — drops to 13th in nation - Boston Herald
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