MASSACHUSETTS — Unemployment in Massachusetts rose to 17.4 percent in June, up from 16.6 percent in May, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday.
Massachusetts was one of just five states that saw its unemployment rate go up in June. It was the third straight month the unemployment rate rose in Massachusetts, while most states have seen their rates fall since an initial spike at the start of the coronavirus crisis in March and April.
The national unemployment rate was 11.1 percent in June, when Massachusetts joined New York and New Jersey in recording their highest unemployment rates since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking that information in 1976.
Economic historians say the peak unemployment rate in Massachusetts during the Great Depression came in 1934, when it hit 25 percent. During the Great Recession that started in December 2007, Massachusetts unemployment topped out at 8.3 percent.
Friday’s report is based primarily on household surveys and is more comprehensive than the weekly unemployment claims released by the U.S. Department of Labor. The report offered a more complete look at the third full month of the coronavirus’ toll on the economy. While all 50 states started some form of reopening in May, economists believe it could take years to replace all the jobs lost.
PEABODY, PATCH
