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