Mass. unemployment rate drops
The Massachusetts unemployment rate is down and the state’s job market is back above pre-recession levels, state officials announced Thursday.
“With revised numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing more jobs were created in January than initially estimated, there are now 3,318,500 jobs in Massachusetts, compared to 3,304,300 in April 2008,” the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said in a statement.
The new figures show Massachusetts employers added 18,900 jobs in January. The original estimate was 16,100.In February, 500 jobs were added, lowering the unemployment rate two-tenths of a percent to 6.5 percent.
Between 2012 and 2013, 57,600 jobs were created in Massachusetts, all but 5,100 of them in the private sector.
The professional, scientific and business services sectors rose by nearly four percent over the last year. Manufacturing remains the hardest-hit sector, losing more than one percent of its jobs in the last 12 months.
Despite the overall improvements, close to 226,000 Massachusetts residents remain out of work.
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