BOSTON – The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development today reported that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for June were up in eighteen areas, down in the Fall River, Nantucket and Tisbury areas and unchanged in Barnstable. Over the year, the rates were up in twenty areas and down in two areas.
Statewide, the June seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 7.4 percent, up 0.7 of a percentage point over the month. Over the year, the statewide unadjusted rate was up 0.5 of a percentage point from the June 2012 rate of 6.9 percent.
In June, over the month job gains occurred in eight of the twelve areas for which estimates are published. The largest job gains were in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Barnstable, Framingham, and Worcester areas. Over the year, eight of the twelve areas added jobs with the largest percentage gains in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Barnstable, and Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury areas.
The seasonally adjusted statewide June unemployment rate, released on July 18, was 7.0 percent, up 0.4 of a percentage point from the 6.6 recorded for May and up 0.3 of a percentage point from the 6.7 percent rate posted for June 2012. The statewide seasonally adjusted jobs estimate showed a 2,800 job gain in June following a revised gain of 6,700 jobs in May.
The labor force, unemployment rates and jobs estimates for Massachusetts, and for every other state, are based on several different statistical methodologies specified by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unadjusted unemployment rates and job estimates for the labor market areas reflect seasonal fluctuations and therefore may show different levels and trends than the statewide seasonally adjusted estimates.
