Massachusetts Job Growth Streak Ends as February Payrolls Fall
Massachusetts’ four-month streak of job gains ended in February.
Preliminary February jobs numbers released Friday by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development show jobs fell 7,200 for the month and 17,000 over last year. That’s after Massachusetts touted an increase of 14,700 payroll jobs from the start of October through January. But the new data also show a revision to January’s jobs gain — 2,000, down from the previous estimate of 3,700.
February’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.8%, from January’s 4.7%, while the national unemployment rate was 4.4%. The unemployment rate rose 0.5% over last February, according to state data. The labor force participation rate dipped to 66%, down from January’s 66.2% and 0.8% lower than a year before. The state’s labor force fell by 11,400 in February with 11,300 fewer residents employed and 200 less unemployed. The state also saw an approximately 53,400-person drop in employed residents over last February.
Sector Breakdown: Where Jobs Were Lost and Gained
Sectors seeing losses in February were education and health services (loss of 3,400 jobs); trade, transportation and utilities (loss of 2,100 jobs); leisure and hospitality (loss of 1,800 jobs); manufacturing (loss of 900 jobs); and professional and business services (loss of 400 jobs). Areas seeing gains were information (500 jobs gained), financial activities (400 jobs gained), government (200 jobs gained), and construction (200 jobs gained).
Mark Rembert, chief economist of the state’s Department of Economic Research, noted the state’s losses in February follow a national trend as the U.S. saw a drop of 133,000 jobs and a rise in the unemployment rate.
“While we continue to monitor economic and labor trends, we are seeing some positives, including that, in the past six months, Massachusetts has outpaced the U.S. in job growth, and we are seeing steadily increasing job postings,” Rembert said.
Healey Administration Advances Economic Development Bill
The jobs data comes a day after Gov. Maura Healey announced an economic development bill aimed at boosting the state’s competitiveness as critics have said Massachusetts is losing its edge in the face of greater global competition. It proposes $305 million in capital authorizations, offset by about $254 million in deauthorizations, and more than 150 policy sections including lower fees for starting a business in the state and incentives for companies to hire in-state students.
The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said it expects to release unemployment and job estimates for March on May 1 and for April on May 22.
