New England jobless rate drops to 7% in September

By PBN Staff
Twitter: @ProvBusNews

WASHINGTON – New England’s unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points from August to September to 7 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday.

Year over year, New England’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fared slightly better, dropping 0.5 percentage points from the 7.5 percent posted in September 2011.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points year over year to 7.8 percent in September.

From August to September, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points to 10.5 percent. Year over year, the Ocean State’s jobless numbers dropped 0.8 percentage points from September 2011.

From August to September, Massachusetts’ unemployment rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.5 percent. The Bay State saw a 0.7 percentage point drop from September 2011 to September 2012.

The Ocean State had the highest jobless rate among the New England states and the second-highest jobless rate in the nation – behind Nevada at 11.8 percent.