Mass. unemployment rate below nation’s

BOSTON – Massachusetts’ unemployment rate remains below the national average at 5.3 percent, though up slightly from 5.2 percent according to preliminary estimates for September released last week by the Mass. Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
The Massachusetts unemployment rate remains nearly a full percentage point below the national rate, which was unchanged at 6.1 percent in September. The Massachusetts rate has been below the national average each month since June 2007.
However, the state’s 2008 unemployment rate through September has averaged 4.8 percent – higher than the 4.5-percent rate recorded for the same time period in 2007.
The office said that jobs were off by 3,800, only the third monthly job decline in the past year. The national economy has lost jobs during each month of 2008. There are 3,290,500 jobs in Massachusetts, up 11,700 from one year ago. &#8226