BOSTON (WWLP) – The latest unemployment numbers for March were released on Friday.
Massachusetts added an estimated 16,300 jobs in March, bringing the unemployment rate down to 3.5%. March saw a greater job increase than February’s revised increase of 9,200 jobs.
Employment is now more than 3.5 million and the state has added more than 696,000 jobs since hiring dropped in April 2020, a month into the pandemic. In March, the largest gains over the year were in education and health services, occupations, scientific and business services, and leisure and hospitality.
Throughout the year, every sector saw an increase in jobs, as was the case during the month with the exception of Trade, Transportation and Utilities which were unchanged.
In all, from March 2024 to March 2023, the state saw 104,000 job gains. The labor force increased by about 300, with 4,700 additional residents employed and the number of unemployed by 4,400.
As for the state’s labor force participation rate, it remained unchanged during the month at 65%. This is the total number of residents 16 years of age or older who have worked or been looking for work in the past four weeks.
The March unemployment rate of 3.5% is the same as the national average.