Worcester Business Journal

Leisure, hospitality highlight Mass. job figures in June

The AC Hotel on Front Street opened in April. The state’s leisure and hospitality industry added 6,600 jobs in June.

The Massachusetts unemployment rate held at 3.5 percent in June and public officials reported Friday the state’s labor force participation rate is at its highest level in 10 years, with more than 100,000 residents becoming employed over the past year. Massachusetts employers added 21,400 jobs in June and have added 63,200 jobs since June 2017, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said, citing federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The national unemployment rate in June was 4 percent.

The largest gain in the state came in the leisure and hospitality industry, which saw a 6,600-job increase over the month for a 1.8-percent addition. For the year, 11,800 jobs have been added, reflecting a 3.2-percent gain. Other large gains came in the professional, scientific and business sector, where 4,700 jobs were gained over the month, a 0.8-percent add. For the year, the industry has added 26,700 at a growth rate of 4.7 percent.

Construction (1.4 percent) and manufacturing (0.7 percent) and education and health services (0.1 percent) also reported job growth in June. ‘The information and financial activities industries reported losses of 0.3 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.There were 3,200 government jobs added last month for a 0.7 percent increase, but those jobs have been level for the year.

Massachusetts employers and workers in recent months have struggled not with a dearth of jobs, but more so with trouble finding skilled workers to fill jobs and, for workers, slow growth in wages and challenging housing costs in the area.

Information from State House News Service was used in this report.