Mass. unemployment held steady in March
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Unemployment in Massachusetts remained unchanged from February to March.
Unemployment in Massachusetts remained unchanged from February to March, marking the first time since October the state did not experience an increase.
Massachusetts’ seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate held steady at 5.0% in March, a figure 0.8 percentage points higher than the national unadjusted average of 4.2%, according to a Friday press release from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state’s unemployment rate has steadily grown since October, when unemployment sat at 3.7%.
Massachusetts’ labor force rose by an estimated 3,842 individuals to 3.94 million in March, rebounding from a slight dip in February when the commonwealth lost 6,578. The state’s labor force participation rate, a category defined as the number of residents 16 years and older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks, also trended upward, gaining 2,135 individuals in March to a total of 5.91 million.
The professional, scientific, and business services industry gained the most jobs in March out of the 10 sectors analyzed by the BLS. While the industry added 2,900 jobs over the month, it still lost 4,200 since March 2024.
The education and health services industry gained 1,700 jobs over the month, the second-largest increase of the sectors analyzed while experiencing the largest growth over-the-year growth of them all, adding 10,100 jobs since this month last year.
The construction industry experienced the largest over-the-month drop in jobs, losing 2,200 positions. It experienced the largest drop off since March 2024, losing 7,100 over the year.
Since unemployment rate estimates are gathered through a monthly sample of households and job estimates are collected via a monthly sample survey of employers, the two statistics may show divergent monthly trends, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
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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