Rate Continues Its Gradual Increase During 2024
The statewide unemployment rate climbed slightly to 3.9 percent in October. While still lower than the national level, it’s been on a gradual increase for most of 2024.
State labor officials announced Friday that the unemployment rate grew by one-tenth of a percentage point month over month, landing 0.5 percentage points above where it was in October 2023 and a full point above the 2.9 percent observed in February, March and April.
Nationwide, the October unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, officials said.
Massachusetts employers shed 200 jobs in October, according to labor data. Statewide employment last month was 3,744,300, about 33,000 jobs more than in October 2023.
Officials said the industries with the biggest year-over-year employment gains were education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and government.
The most recent unemployment rate is a shade worse than the joblessness outlook used to craft a worrying five-year projection about the state’s unemployment system.
In October, the Healey administration estimated that if unemployment peaks at 3.7 percent in the next five years, the trust fund used to pay benefits will be almost $300 million in the red by the end of 2028.
