More optimism about job recovery in Massachusetts

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - There is some good news for Massachusetts: the jobless rate is down .

The Office of Labor and Workforce Development released the numbers Thursday morning. According to their statistics, Massachusetts added 2,500 jobs over the month of April; a gain that brought down the jobless rate 0.2 percentage points from 6.5 to 6.3%. That is well below the national rate of 8.1%.

Still, there are more than 200,000 people without a job in this state. One of them is Lindsay Pedersen of Southampton, who lost her job Thursday. She says hearing the news makes her feel optimistic.

“I was a job that was pretty hard in the medical field, and I just wasn't getting the hang of it so they had to let me go. Being out of work is no fun for everybody, so I think that everyone should be optimistic,” Pedersen said.

The construction sector took the biggest hit; the industry lost 1,300 jobs over the month of April.

The industries with the biggest gains were the professional, scientific and business services sectors, which added 4,200 jobs over the month.