New England jobless rate rises to 7.3% in August

THE JOBLESS RATE in the New England area rose to 7.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, in August. / COURTESY THE U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
THE JOBLESS RATE in the New England area rose to 7.3 percent, seasonally adjusted, in August. / COURTESY THE U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

WASHINGTON – New England’s unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points from July to August to 7.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday.
Year over year, New England’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fared better, dropping 0.5 percentage points from the 7.8 percent posted in August 2011.
Nationally, the unemployment rate fell 1.0 percentage point year over year to 8.1 percent in August.
From July to August, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percentage points to 10.7 percent. Year over year, the Ocean State’s jobless numbers dropped 0.7 percentage points from August 2011.
From July to August, Massachusetts’ unemployment rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.3 percent. The Bay State saw a 1.1 percentage point drop from from August 2011 to August 2012.
The Ocean State had the highest jobless rate among the New England states and the second-highest jobless rate in the nation – behind Nevada at 12.1 percent.

No posts to display