The New England unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 4.7 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported recently, but that number is more than a percentage point better than a year ago.
For July, Connecticut was the only New England state with what the bureau termed a “statistically significant unemployment rate change,” falling 0.3 percent and placing it among the top four states in that metric nationally.
The remaining New England states were among the 43, plus the District of Columbia, with unemployment rates not measurably different from last month’s.
For 2015 so far, the bureau reported five New England states had “statistically significant unemployment rate decreases,” including Rhode Island, down 1.8 percent; Maine, down 1.1 percent; and Connecticut, which fell 1 percent.
Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown said the New England unemployment figure for July 2014 was 5.8 percent, indicating a 1.1 percent improvement, year to year.
According to the July report, the national jobless rate was unchanged from June at 5.3 percent. That number is 0.9 percent lower than in July 2014.
New England is one of nine geographic bureau divisions nationwide. Among the nine geographic divisions, the Pacific had the highest jobless rate in July at 6.0 percent. The West North Central division had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.3 percent. New England was among the eight divisions that had statistically significant rate declines from a year earlier. The largest of these decreases occurred in the East North Central, which was down 1.2 percent.
For New England, Vermont had the best July number, with unemployment at 3.6 percent, followed closely by New Hampshire”™s 3.7 percent unemployment rate.
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