New England unemployment rate holds at 7.4% in October

By PBN Staff
Twitter: @ProvBusNews

WASHINGTON – New England’s unemployment rate was unchanged from September to October at 7.4 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday.

Year over year, New England’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fared slightly better, dropping 0.1 percentage points from the 7.5 percent posted in October 2011.

Nationally, the unemployment rate fell 1 percentage point year over year to 7.9 percent in October.

From September to October, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percentage points to 10.4 percent, seasonally adjusted. Year over year, the Ocean State’s jobless rate dropped 0.8 percentage points from October 2011.

From September to October, Massachusetts’ unemployment rate rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.6 percent. The Bay State saw a 0.5 percentage point drop from October 2011 to October 2012.

In October, 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 11.5 percent.