A summary is below. More details are available on our State Employment Page.

March 12, 2018

Summary

• Massachusetts lost 6,100 jobs and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5 percent in January according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.

• Over the past twelve months, Massachusetts added 29,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point from 3.9 percent.

• In January, Massachusetts's private sector lost 4,200 jobs and over the past twelve months, it created 31,700 jobs.

• The number of unemployed Massachusettsans fell by 1,730 in January, and over the past year 26,527 Massachusettsans found jobs.

• Massachusetts’s labor force participation rate remains unchanged from 65.3 percent in January.  Since last year, the labor force participation rate fell 0.2 percentage point.

• The national unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent in February.  State employment and unemployment data for February is scheduled for release on March 22, 2018.  The national employment situation report for March will be released on Friday, April 6, 2018.