Bay state gets off the floor
Mass. no longer highest in the nation for unemployment
Massachusetts is out of the basement.
The state’s unemployment rate was 11.3% in August — tied with New Mexico for sixth-highest in the nation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
But, that’s an improvement over the 16.1% unemployment rate in July when the Bay State had the unenviable designation of being the worst of the worst. Now Nevada — at 13.2% — is listed at the bottom followed by Rhode Island (12.8%), New York and Hawaii (both 12.5%), and California (11.4%).
Nebraska’s 4% and Utah’s 4.1% unemployment rates were the best last month.
Massachusetts did top the nation in the largest unemployment rate decrease — 4.9% — with Arizona close behind at 4.8% in August, the feds reported.
That’s a good sign, said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.
“Consumer traffic picked up a bit in August,” Hurst told the Herald Friday. “I’m cautiously optimistic. We’re making important steps.”
The uptick comes as more people are venturing out to try outdoor dining, go shopping or head out on road trips.
Retail sales climbed for the fourth straight month in August, but only by 0.6%, according to the Commerce Department, with sales of home computers, new cars and online groceries leading the way.
This all comes as the unemployed wait for more assistance.
Workers laid off in mid March as pandemic shutdown orders took effect are already starting to exhaust the first 26 weeks of regular state unemployment benefits but most will get an automatic 13-week extension that will help them through December, the Herald reported this week.
What happens after that is up to Congress.
Federal lawmakers have been locked in a stalemate for weeks over the contents of a potential fifth coronavirus relief package that would extend supplemental jobless benefits to replace a $600per-week COVID unemployment benefit that expired at the end of July.
Anyone collecting Pandemic Unemployment Assistance — the emergency federal program created to extend jobless benefits to the self-employed, gig workers and others who aren’t traditionally eligible for state benefits can collect for up to 46 weeks, though that program also ends in December.
If Congress fails to act before then, unemployment dollars will dry up, leaving millions with no way to pay the bills.
This week President Trump called on congressional Republicans to push through a new relief bill — offering up a different approach than the one being debated in the Senate.