BOSTON -Tuesday, November 25, 2008 --- Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported that preliminary October estimates show unemployment rates, not adjusted for seasonality, were lower in nineteen of the Commonwealth's twenty-two labor market areas.  The Barnstable area rate remained unchanged and the Tisbury and Nantucket areas recorded slightly higher than expected seasonal rate increases.

Statewide, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was at 5.0 percent for October, down from 5.3 percent in September. Over the year, the rates were up in all areas except for Amherst, which was the same as the previous year. The labor market area estimates for both the unemployment rates and jobs are not adjusted for seasonality and may show different trends than the statewide seasonally adjusted estimates.

The statewide seasonally adjusted October 2008 unemployment rate released last week rose to 5.5 percent from the 5.3 percent rate posted for September. Statewide the seasonally adjusted jobs estimate for October showed a loss over the month and a modest gain over the year. The Massachusetts unemployment rate was a full percentage point lower than the national rate, which rose from 6.1 percent in September to 6.5 percent in October. The Massachusetts rate has been below the national rate each month since June 2007.

Ten of the twelve labor market areas for which jobs estimates are published, recorded over the month job gains in October as schools returned to their fall levels.  Most areas posted over the month gains that were less than those posted at the same time last year as seasonal gains in educational services were offset by losses in construction and leisure and hospitality. The Haverhill area posted a small decline in jobs while the Barnstable area recorded seasonal job losses.

Over the year, the Boston and Framingham areas posted job gains due to strength in the professional, scientific and business services and education and health services sectors.

NOTES: The November 2008 unemployment rate, labor force data and survey of jobs for Massachusetts will be released on December 18, 2008, local unemployment statistics will be released on December 23, 2008. Detailed labor market information is available at www.mass.gov/lmi.

*With the release of the January 2008 estimates, the data for the Pittsfield and Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner NECTA areas are no longer validated by US DOL BLS and the historical sub-state Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) series for 2007 have been revised. As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Metropolitan New England City and Town Areas (NECTAs) must have an urbanized area population of 50,000 or more, while a Micropolitan NECTA must have an urban cluster population of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000. A NECTA containing a single core with a population of at least 2.5 million may be subdivided to smaller groupings of cities and towns referred to as NECTA Divisions.