Massachusetts Sees Slight Employment Uptick In July

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) reported last week that 12,700 jobs were added in July 2011, with 11,600 of the jobs coming in the private sector.

July’s total figure keeps the total reported unemployment rate in the state at 7.6 percent, below the national average of 9.1 percent.

Since July 2010, the Massachusetts economy has added 56,800 jobs, growing the total workforce by 1.8 percent. Although no official figures are available regarding population growth rates in the Commonwealth during the same timeframe, the rate of population growth in Massachusetts between the 2000 and 2010 census was 3.1 percent.

While no specific unemployment rates for Westford could be found, EOLWD reports provided by Robert Half International of Boston placed the growth rate in the Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford area between June and May, bringing the total estimate of jobs in the area to 119,200; just over 4,000 more jobs than a year earlier.