Jobs Numbers Take Slight Dip In October

Unemployment Rate Ticks Up to 2.8%

Massachusetts has lost jobs two months in a row and the unemployment rate here ticked up to 2.8 percent in October, state labor officials announced Friday.

While the unemployment rate still remains near a roughly 50-year low and is 1.1 percentage points lower than the national rate, Massachusetts employers have lost 3,400 jobs over the last two months — 2,600 lost in September and another 800 lost in October, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates.

The labor force participation rate, which represents the share of the residents 16 years old or older who are either employed have actively sought employment in the last four weeks, increased by one-tenth of a percentage point in October and stands at 64.5 percent, down from 64.8 percent one year ago.

LWD said Bay State employment now stands at 3,782,700 — up by 77,100 jobs from October 2022 and 721,100 jobs since the employment low in April 2020. The sectors that have seen the largest over-the-year gains are education and health services; professional, scientific, and business services; and construction.