Macroeconomics

Unemployment rate increased two basic points in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts reaching 7.2% in July 2013.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released today -08/28/2013- its monthly report on unemployment rate at the metropolitan level. Unemployment rate increased two basic points in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts reaching 7.2% – the total civilian labor force in the state for July is 3,551.100.

The only metropolitan area that held -and did not go up- the same rate as in 2012 was the touristic region of Barnstable with a 5.9%; however, the overall trend still goes downwards from its high 9% rate in 2010. The most concerning metro area is New Bedford which went up to 11.2% jobless rate, which is worse than the rate reached at the peak (2009) of the Great Recession of 10.9%.
 
Boston metro area -which includes Quincy and Cambridge- showed a small increase of one basic point at 6.6%. Despite the fact that the rate in Boston-metro did not change substantially, the percentage of unemployed people has been dropping from 8.1% in 2010, which was its highest peak for the last twenty years.
 
Leominster metro area still struggles with a rate over 9.7% unemployment. Springfield and Worcester in Central Massachusetts reported 8.7% and 8% respectively. Regrettably, Worcester is returning onto Great Recession levels which were around 8.9 and 9%. Pittsfield metro area in the western Berkshire region climbed to 7.1% unemployment. It is worth noting that the unemployment rate in Pittsfield is going down from a two-digit number in 2010 (10.9%).More details can be found at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/metro.t01.htm

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