Berkshire County Sees Slight Drop in Jobless Rate
 Wanda Haley, right, of BerkshireJobs shows a job seeker how to post a resume at the BerkshireWorks Career Center job fair at the Eagle in North Adams on Tuesday. |
Still, the number of unemployed in and around the Berkshires' two cities is significantly higher than this time last year. Pittsfield, despite a gain of less than 100 jobs over July, has about 1,400 more people looking for work than last August. North Adams area also saw a slight decrease in jobless rates from July to August, but the number of unemployed is nearly double that a year ago, from 966 to 1,633.
The Great Barrington area saw a slight increase in unemployment (less than 20), that's up 416 over last August, when 619 people were looking for work.
The Amherst area posted the largest over the month rate decline with the return of schools, colleges and universities. Unemployment rates, which are not adjusted for seasonality, were unchanged over the month in seven areas.
Three of the remaining areas which posted higher rates recorded rate increases of one-tenth of a percentage point. Statewide, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 8.9 percent for August was unchanged from July.
In August, the Peabody area added 500 jobs. The other eleven of the Commonwealth's twelve areas for which unadjusted job estimates were published lost jobs. Over the year, all of the labor areas recorded increases in unemployment rates and job losses.
The statewide seasonally adjusted August 2009 unemployment rate, released last week, increased from 8.8 percent in July to 9.1 percent in August. Statewide, the seasonally adjusted jobs estimate for August showed 400 job losses over the month. The unadjusted unemployment rates and jobs estimates for the labor markets may show different levels and trends than the statewide seasonally adjusted estimates.
NOTES: The September 2009 unemployment rate, labor force data and survey of jobs for Massachusetts will be released on October 15, 2009; local unemployment statistics will be released on October 20, 2009. Detailed labor market information is available at www.mass.gov/lmi.
