Latest Seasonally Unadjusted Unemployment, Job Estimates

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BOSTON, Mass. — Local unemployment rates increased in twenty-one of twenty-four labor market areas in the state during the month of June 2024 compared to May 2024, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported.
 
Compared to June 2023, the rates were up in all twenty-four labor market areas.
 
Of the fifteen areas for which employment estimates are published, all fifteen NECTA areas gained jobs compared to the previous month. The largest percentage increases occurred in the Barnstable Town (+6.2 percent), Pittsfield (+2.5 percent), and New Bedford (+2 percent) areas.
 
From June 2023 to June 2024, ten areas gained jobs with the largest percentage increases seen in the Pittsfield (+2.2 percent), Lynn-Saugus-Marblehead (+2.2 percent), and Peabody-Salem-Beverly (+2.1 percent) areas.
 
The statewide seasonally adjusted preliminary jobs estimate showed an increase of 19,000 jobs in June, and an over-the-year gain of 40,200 jobs.
 
In order to compare the statewide rate to local unemployment rates, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the statewide unadjusted unemployment rate for June 2024 was 4.0 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from the revised May 2024 estimate and was the 0.3 percentage points below the nation's unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.
 
Last week, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported the statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the month of June 2024 was 3.2 percent, up 0.2 percentage points compared to the revised May 2024 estimate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June 2024 increased by 0.1 percentage point over-the-month to 4.1 percent.
 
The unadjusted unemployment rates and job estimates for the labor market areas reflect seasonal fluctuations and therefore may show different levels and trends than the statewide seasonally adjusted estimates.
 
The estimates for labor force, unemployment rates, and jobs for Massachusetts are based on different statistical methodologies specified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Harris Draws Crowds to Downtown Pittsfield

By Brittany Polito & Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

The closest iBerkshires got was a thumbs up from James Taylor. Most local media was kept outside and iBerkshires has no access to pool photos. 
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Vice President Kamala Harris fired up a capacity crowd at the Colonial Theatre on Saturday afternoon. 
 
The presumed presidential nominee for the Democratic Party was met in Westfield by Gov. Maura Healey before traveling to Pittsfield to give a 15-minute stump speech — more than an hour later than planned. 
 
"It was incredibly inspiring and comforting," said Lee Prinz of Pittsfield. "I felt heard, I felt like, oh, there are people, they are doing something, and we have like-minded individuals and people are taking action. 
 
"It was inspiring because it's also a lot of the responsibility is on us to make this change."
 
Prinz said the veep stuck to the stump speech she's been honing over the last week since President Joe Biden's withdrawal from the campaign. 
 
He said she touched on the administration's successes like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and topics such as bodily autonomy and "hope versus hate." 
 
Harris also talked about Project 2025, a controversial Heritage Foundation document laying out a very conservative path should Donald Trump win the election. Prinz said he was glad to see discussion of the plans break into the mainstream because of how "scary" it is. 
 
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