“Seasonal losses” and a shrinking labor force brought a slight uptick to Haverhill’s unemployment rate in September.
Numbers released Tuesday by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) show the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in Haverhill increased by one percentage point to 4.9 percent from August to September. During that period, nine more people were receiving unemployment benefits to bring the jobless number in Haverhill to 1,656 people.
Meanwhile the labor force, including those actively seeking work, decreased by 836 people and the number of employed in Haverhill dropped by 845 to 31,895 people. Groveland’s unemployment rate also increased by a percentage point to 3.5 percent in the same period, as unemployed increased by one person while 98 fewer people in the work pool and 99 fewer employed were reported there. In Andover, there were 25 additional unemployed, with 448 fewer reported employed and 423 leaving the labor force brought a 3.7 percent unemployment rate, up by two percentage points.
Increased unemployment, by as much as four percentage points in West Newbury, were also reported in most other local and surrounding communities. However in Methuen, Newbury and Lowell, the combinations produced unchanged unemployment rates of 5.2 percent, 4 percent and 5.8 percent respectively. In addition to Lowell, Haverhill’s unemployment rate was lower compared to Lawrence, another urban center, which recorded the valley’s highest rate at 9.1 percent. Newburyport’s 3.9 percent jobless rate was the valley’s lowest among urban communities.
The statewide seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate held at 4.5 percent from August to September.
I’m speculating The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development either use The BLS data or calculate it the same way as The BLS, which means they do not count the number of people who have simply dropped out of the workforce entirely. This of course makes it easier for crony politicians to proliferate the lie that all is well, and the media of course, who lie by omission, goes right along with the politicians to keep favor.
The past 15 years in this country have been devastating, and the basic are there is simply not enough jobs for Americans entering the work force. 2008 simply obliterated the workforce, and that percentile equates to millions of Americans who still have no jobs.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=2cg5
That over 94 million no longer in the labor force? No, it is NOT due to retirees as one can see the structural damage occurring to those who “should” be in their peak years of employment (25-54), which would include college graduates.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=2cgb
Oh well, why rely on truth when perpetrating a lie is so much better?