MA Gained 4,700 Jobs in March
Saturday, April 21, 2018
GoLocalWorcester Business Team
The State of Massachusetts added 4,700 jobs in the month of March, while the unemployment remained at 3.5 percent, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday.
“For the past six months, the Commonwealth’s unemployment rate has remained unchanged at 3.5 percent. Yet during that period of low unemployment, we are still seeing expansions in the labor force, with over 25,000 more residents employed and employers adding more than 20,000 jobs, pointing to the overall strength of the Massachusetts workforce,” said Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta.
Over the month, the private sector added 5,600 jobs as gains occurred in Professional, Scientific, and Business Services; Construction; Manufacturing; and Information.
The jobs level remained unchanged in Financial Activities.
From March 2017 to March 2018, Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that Massachusetts has added 41,800 jobs.
Unemployment Rate Stays at 3.5%
The March unemployment rate remained at 3.5%.
The rate was six-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate of 4.1 percent reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The labor force increased by 14,200 from 3,669,500 in February, as 13,000 more residents were employed and 1,200 more residents were unemployed over the month.
The state’s labor force participation rate is up two-tenths of a percentage point at 65.6 percent.
Compared to March 2017, the labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 65.6 percent.
From March 2017 to March 2018, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased four-tenths of a percentage point from 3.9 percent.