SPRINGFIELD: Unemployment in the city of Springfield fell in October to 5.1 percent, its lowest level in at least nine years. The rate was down from 6.3 percent recorded a month earlier in September and from 8.3 percent recorded a year ago in October 2015, according to figures released this week by the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The jobless numbers include news that Greater Springfield as a region gained more than 4,000 jobs in the month. Springfield joined Boston-Newton-Cambridge, Greater Worcester and Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton as regions with large job gains in October.
Jobless numbers come from a phone survey of households and counts those working and those who are out of work but looking for a job. Eligibility for unemployment benefits is not a factor. Jobs numbers come from a survey of employers, a method that often misses jobs created by small companies and startups. The local numbers are not adjusted for seasonal changes in the economy.
The Massachusetts unemployment rate fell in October to 3.3 percent from 3.6 percent in September. At 3.3 percent, the state’s unemployment rate is within the range economists think of as “full employment,” when everyone who wants a job can find one in a reasonable period of time. It’s the lowest unemployment rate recorded in the state since April 2001.
