Rate Remained Flat Through July
The statewide unemployment rate remained flat in July while employers reported a slight decrease in total jobs, according to the latest monthly labor data published Friday.
Labor officials said unemployment stayed at 4.8% last month, unchanged from June. The national rate inched upward one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.2% in the same span.
Over the past year, the statewide jobless rate grew 0.7 percentage points.
Massachusetts shed about 600 jobs in July, the second straight month with a decrease, data show. Between July 2024 and July 2025, total employment grew by 8,200 positions, or two-tenths of a percentage point.
Mark Rembert, chief economist in the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s Department of Economic Research, said construction and the health care and social assistance sectors have been “bright spots.”
“The labor market data for July showed mixed signals, but the underlying narrative points to gradual slowdown in the labor market,” Rembert said in a statement. “On one hand, fewer residents filed for unemployment benefits in July. On the other, the data suggests that it is taking longer for those looking for work to land a new position.”
Analysts for years have used two separate surveys from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics to examine employment trends: a survey of households that estimates the unemployment rate, and a survey of employers with projections of payroll jobs.
The Healey administration on Friday headlined its press release with the estimate of total employment in the household survey, which unlike the employer survey showed an increase of about 2,700 Bay Staters with jobs.
Officials have said the household survey captures self-employed people, some doctors and remote workers that might not be included in the more traditional employer survey, but some experts argue that it’s statistically unsound — and misleading — to cite jobs numbers from the household survey.
