Eastern MA seeing better job growth

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - The latest seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates for Massachusetts have been released, and the new numbers show job growth has been better in the eastern part of the state.

In July, the statewide unemployment rate went up by 0.1% point to 6.1%, and while that represents an increase, it is still a large improvement from the 7.4% rate recorded last year.

1,600 jobs were added last month. Most of those jobs were created in the eastern part of the state, in communities like Peabody, Barnstable, Cambridge and Quincy.

But career counselors say that doesn't necessarily mean that job seekers here in western Massachusetts are at disadvantage. Hampden County has different kinds of job available than the Boston area, says Konrad Rogowski of FutureWorks in Springfield .

“Primarily, the health care, light manufacturing and administrative, those areas seem to remain steady, as opposed to seeing more high-tech areas that we see more toward the eastern part of the state,” Rogowski said.

The Labor Department also released jobs numbers that look at seasonal employments. That report found towns like Amherst, Nantucket, and Tisbury added more summer jobs than other town and cities in the state.