Greater Worcester unemployment held steady in August
Photo | Grant Welker
The Worcester skyline
Unemployment held steady or decreased in August throughout Central Massachusetts as the region experiences vacillating employment trajectories that change direction on a monthly basis.
Greater Worcester’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.0% in August, reflecting a 0.5 percentage point over-the-year increase from the 4.5% it sat at in August 2024, according to the data released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, using information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Greater Worcester’s rate was the third-highest of the 12 metro and micropolitan statistical areas analyzed by the BLS, falling behind only Greater Springfield with its unemployment rate of 6.0% and the Greater Providence, Rhode Island/Warwick, Massachusetts area with a rate of 5.3%.
In Worcester proper, the city’s unemployment rate dipped by 0.3 percentage points last month, falling from 5.5% in July to 5.2% in August, a rate 0.5 percentage points higher than in August 2024.
Greater Framingham had the lowest unemployment rate of the five Central Massachusetts metro and micropolitan statistical areas. Coming in at 4.2% in August, the area’s unemployment rate represented a 0.5-percentage-point decrease over the month and a 0.7-percentage-point increase from August 2024, when its unemployment rate sat at 3.5%.
Leominster experienced a 0.5-percentage-point decrease in August, with its unemployment rate dipping from 5.3% in July to 4.8%. Like Worcester, the city’s August rate showed a 0.5-percentage-point increase from the same month last year.
At 6.0%, Gardner yet again had the highest unemployment rate of those reported on by WBJ. While its rate held steady from July, its August rate was 1.1 percentage points higher than in August 2024, meaning the city had the highest over-the-year increase of the five Central Massachusetts areas.
Athol’s unemployment rate dipped 0.3 percentage points in August, falling from 6.0% in July to 5.7% in August. While on a downward trajectory, the town still showed the second-highest over-the-year increase in unemployment, with its rate rising 1.1 percentage points since August of last year.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
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