Mass. unemployment worst since 1993

BOSTON, MASS (AP) - Around 6,800 Massachusetts residents lost their jobs last month, sending the state's unemployment rate to its highest level in more than 15 years.

Experts say many factors are contributing to the spike and agree Massachusetts is finally catching up to other states who have been feeling the effects of the national recession, losing jobs in sectors that had not previously taken such a bad hit.
The professional and business services sector, for example, lost 7,500 jobs, accounting for almost half of December job losses.

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce reported Jan. 22 that December's unemployment rate was 6.9 percent, a full percentage point above November's rate of 5.9 percent. The Massachusetts jobless rate has been consistently below the national level, but December's numbers brought the state even closer to the national rate of 7.2 percent.
The last time unemployment in Massachusetts was 6.9 percent was in October 1993.
The Massachusetts workforce had been mostly insulated from the national recession before December, due to its diverse economy, said David Tuerck, executive director at the free-market think tank Beacon Hill Institute.