Latest seasonally unadjusted unemployment data and job estimates / iBerkshires.com

BOSTON, Mass. — Local unemployment rates increased in twenty-one of the state’s twenty-four labor market areas in June 2024 compared with May 2024, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

Compared to June 2023, indicators increased in all twenty-four areas of the labor market.

Of the fifteen areas for which employment estimates are published, all fifteen NECTA areas gained jobs compared to the previous month. The largest percentage gains occurred in Barnstable Town (+6.2 percent), Pittsfield (+2.5 percent) and New Bedford (+2 percent).

Ten areas saw job growth between June 2023 and June 2024, with the largest percentage gains in Pittsfield (+2.2%), Lynn-Saugus-Marblehead (+2.2%) and Peabody-Salem-Beverly (+2.1%).

Preliminary statewide employment estimates, adjusted for seasonality, showed an increase of 19,000 jobs in June and an increase of 40,200 jobs for the year.

To compare the state rate to the local unemployment rate, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated the unadjusted statewide unemployment rate for June 2024 at 4.0 percent, which is an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the revised May 2024 estimate and 0.3 percentage points lower than the national unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.

Last week, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported that the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June 2024 was 3.2 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from the revised May 2024 estimate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June 2024 rose 0.1 percentage points over the month to 4.1 percent.

Unadjusted unemployment rates and employment estimates for individual labor market areas reflect seasonal variations and therefore may exhibit different levels and trends than the seasonally adjusted estimates for the state as a whole.

Estimates of the labor force, unemployment rate, and jobs in Massachusetts are based on various statistical methodologies defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.