MA Adds 5,600 Jobs in December, Unemployment Drops to 3.3%

Saturday, January 19, 2019
GoLocalWorcester Business Team

Massachusetts added 5,600 jobs in the month of December while unemployment dropped to 3.3 percent, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday.

"Preliminary estimates show an addition of 184,700 residents to the labor force during 2018 – the largest yearly increase in the labor force since the beginning of the series in 1976. These labor force gains, alongside the 65,800 jobs added to the economy last year, are indicators of the continued strength of the job market in the Commonwealth," said Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta.

MA Adds Jobs

Massachusetts added 5600 jobs in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Over the month, the private sector added 5,500 jobs as gains occurred in Professional, Scientific, and Business Services; Other Services; Education and Health Services; Leisure and Hospitality; Manufacturing; Financial Activities; and Information. Construction and Trade, Transportation, and Utilities lost jobs over the month.

From December of 2017 to December 2018, BLS estimates Massachusetts has added 65,800 jobs. 

Unemployment Drops

The December unemployment rate was six-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate of 3.9 percent reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The labor force increased by 5,000 from 3,837,000 in November, as 8,800 more residents were employed and 3,800 fewer residents were unemployed over the month.

Since December of 2018, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percentage point.

The state’s labor force participation rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point to 68.1 percent. Compared to December 2017, the labor force participation rate is up 2.8 percentage points.