New England unemployment rate is up from last year

The New England unemployment rate was essentially unchanged in July from the previous month at 5.4 percent, but it was up 0.9 percentage point over the rate from a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today.

Nationally, the unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent in July, a full percentage point higher than a year earlier, said the bureau, part of the US Department of Labor.

Three New England states posted jobless rates different from the US average, with New Hampshire and Vermont at 3.9 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively. Rhode Island, with a rate of 7.7 percent, was "measurably higher" than the national rate, the bureau said.

The bureau added, "Among the remaining New England states, Massachusetts posted a jobless rate of 5.1 percent in July, Maine, 5.4 percent, and Connecticut, 5.8 percent, but statistically, none of these rates differed significantly from that of the nation."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)