Mass. unemployment rate rises from 8.6 to 8.8%

By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff

The unemployment rate in Massachusetts rose to 8.8 percent in July with 2,800 jobs lost as compared with June’s 8.6 percent unemployment rate, the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said in a report today.

A Globe story from last month noted that June's 8.6 percent unemployment rate was the highest in 17 years. The state's online unemployment records go back to 1976. According to the online records for that 33-year period, the highest monthly unemployment rate for Massachusetts was recorded in January 1976, when the rate was 10.9 percent; at that time, the national unemployment rate was 7.9 percent, officials at the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said.

As for the July 2009 Massachusetts labor report, the leisure and hospitality sector gained the most jobs, while the government and manufacturing sectors recorded the largest monthly declines, said the executive office, which noted that the July national unemployment rate was 9.4 percent, compared with 9.5 percent in June.

"At 3,184,300, jobs are down 109,400, or 3.3 percent, from one year ago, with 102,500 of the net job loss occurring over the seven month period between September 2008 and April 2009," the executive office said.

To read a Globe story on the previous month's unemployment figures in Massachusetts, please click here.