Haverhill’s Jobless Rate Still Among Highest at 5.9%

Figures show January’s weather had an impact on dampening local employment, but the change of the calendar to February showed some reversals.

Seasonally unadjusted jobs numbers released Tuesday show Haverhill in February gained 230 jobs while 30 fewer people were unemployed in a one-month comparison to January. The city, however, still has one of the highest unemployment rates in the area.

According to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in Haverhill fell one tenth of a percent in February to 5.9 percent. The statewide average unemployment rate fell from 5.6 percent to 5.4 percent. In a one-year comparison, February employment in Haverhill stood at 31,947 jobs, up from 30,660 reported in February, 2014, when the unemployment rate was 7.0 percent.

Elsewhere in the Merrimack Valley, Methuen gained 256 jobs in February, while Andover added 165 jobs and Groveland gained 20 jobs while its unemployment rate increased by one tenth of a percent to 4.2 percent. Unemployment for the month fell to 5.8 percent in Methuen and to 3.9 percent in Andover.

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development also reports during February, four of the 15 areas for which job estimates are published recorded seasonal job gains, one had no change in jobs and the remaining ten areas lost jobs.  The Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford area was among four areas reporting the largest one-month job gains. The Lawrence-Methuen area was among those showing the largest percentage job gains since February, 2014.

2 thoughts on “Haverhill’s Jobless Rate Still Among Highest at 5.9%

    • Love to see new people elected for public office; if there were CREDIBLE candidates to vote for, perhaps we WOULD see changes in Haverhill elected officials but over the past few years only pretenders who would be worse than what we have ran for public office. Are you intending to throw your hat into the political ring?