Mass. unemployment rate remains at 7.6%

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

Massachusetts continues to outperform the nation in job growth, adding nearly 13,000 jobs last month, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported this morning.

The state’s unemployment rate held steady in July at 7.6 percent, well below the national rate of 9.1 percent in July.

“We’re seeing strong growth in sectors that have been good for the state’s economy -- technology and knowledge-based sectors, professional and business services, manufacturing has been adding a lot of jobs over the past several months,” said Northeastern University economics professor Alan Clayton-Matthews. “It’s hard to find a weakness.”

But there are reasons for caution, Clayton-Matthews said. The payroll jobs numbers, based on a survey of employers, are estimates and subject to revision -- sometimes dramatically. Last year, for example, initial estimates showed the state added more than 60,000 jobs in the first seven months of 2010; annual revisions of the data lowered that figure to about 24,000.

Also, the separate survey of households, used to estimate the unemployment rate, showed the the number of employed in Massachusetts rose by just 400 last month.

Meanwhile, the number of people working or looking for work has declined by nearly 20,000 over the past year, indicating that people are giving up searches.

In strong job markets, the labor force tends to grow as discouraged workers come off the sidelines and resume job searches. The true condition of the Massachusetts economy probably lies somewhere in between the two surveys, Clayton-Matthews said.

Yet the overall trend shows the Massachusetts economy performing better than the nation as whole. The number of jobs in the state rose 1.6 percent in the first seven months of the year, about double the national rate of job growth.

Massachusetts added many jobs in its education and health services sector last month -- about 3,000cq. Trade, transportation, and utilities gained 2,900 jobs and manufacturing gained 2,400 jobs, noting gains in the creation of durable goods, including fabricated metal products, machinery, computer and electronic products, and appliances.

All levels of government also gained 1,100 jobs over the month. The construction sector lost jobs, and the leisure and hospitality sector was essentially flat.