The statewide unemployment rate climbed slightly to 3.9% in October. While still lower than the national level, it’s been on a gradual increase for most of 2024.
State labor officials announced that the unemployment rate grew by one-tenth of a percentage point month over month, landing 0.5 percentage points above where it was in October 2023 and a full point above the 2.9% observed in February, March and April.
Nationwide, the October unemployment rate was 4.1%, officials said.
Massachusetts employers shed 200 jobs in October, according to labor data. Statewide employment last month was 3,744,300, about 33,000 jobs more than in October 2023.
Layoffs at Boeing near 2,200
Boeing said in a notice filed with Washington’s Employment Security Department on Monday that it has so far laid off 2,199 workers in the state, among job cuts that will eventually total about 17,000 across the company.
The aerospace giant announced in October that it planned to cut about 10% of its workforce in the coming months as it struggles to recover from financial and regulatory troubles as well as a strike by its machinists that lasted nearly two months.
The planned cuts include workers at Boeing facilities across the country, from Washington to Missouri to Arizona to South Carolina, The Seattle Times reported. They also appeared to impact workers in all three of Boeing’s divisions: commercial airplanes, defense and global services.
Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, has been in financial trouble since two crashes of its 737 Max jetliner killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. The company’s fortunes and reputation took a further hit when a panel blew off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane in January.
