June 5, 2020
May national unemployment rate drops to 13.3%
Photo | Grant Welker
A quiet Main Street in downtown Worcester
By Grant Welker
The national unemployment rate for May dropped slightly to 13.3%, a figure showing both improvement from April and a continued exceptionally high rate of people out of work.
The rate, released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, follows a 14.7% national rate in April that was the country's highest since the Great Depression, when the rate hit 24.9%.
May's rate was lower than expected, U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said in a statement.
“Today’s report shows much higher job creation and lower unemployment than expected, reflecting that the re-opening of the economy in May was earlier, and more robust, than projected," Scalia said. "Millions of Americans are still out of work, and the department remains focused on bringing Americans safely back to work and helping States deliver unemployment benefits to those who need them. However, it appears the worst of the coronavirus’s impact on the nation’s job markets is behind us.”
The relative improvement in May reflected a resumption of economic activity from March and April, when much of the country was battling the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Massachusetts, with case numbers and deaths down from a peak in April, has begun slowly reopening many businesses, while some other states — including those with still-rising virus rates — have opened restaurants and other businesses with reduced capacities.
Employment rose sharply in May in industries including leisure and hospitality, construction, education and health services, and retail, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The unemployment rate for Massachusetts in April was 15.1%, the highest monthly unemployment rate since records started being kept in 1976. The Worcester metropolitan area had a rate of 14.4%, with its labor force shrinking by one-tenth, or more than 36,000 people.
State and local unemployment rates for May will be released later this month.
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