New Bedford, Massachusetts Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for New Bedford fell 0.3 percentage points in December 2011 to 10.3%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 3.5 percentage points higher than the Massachusetts rate. The unemployment rate in New Bedford peaked in November 2009 at 12.4% and is now 2.1 percentage points lower. You can also compare New Bedford unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate	December 2011	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	8.5%	-0.2	-0.9
Massachusetts	6.8%	-0.2	-1.5
New Bedford	10.3%	-0.3	-1.6

Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.¹ All comparisons are made with December 2011 data as January metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: New Bedford, Massachusetts, National

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

New Bedford, Massachusetts Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in New Bedford peaked in January 2010 at 10,723. There are now 1,879 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. New Bedford employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in New Bedford, Massachusetts) is also available.

Unemployed Persons	December 2011	Month/Month	Year/Year
New Bedford	8,844	-259	-1,550

Number of Unemployed Persons

New Bedford, Massachusetts Unemployment History

Date	National Unemployment Rate	Massachusetts Unemployment Rate	New Bedford Unemployment Rate	New Bedford Unemployed
January 2012	8.3%	—	—	—
December 2011	8.5%	6.8%	10.3%	8,844
November 2011	8.7%	7.0%	10.6%	9,103
October 2011	8.9%	7.3%	10.8%	9,341
September 2011	9.0%	7.3%	11.0%	9,443
August 2011	9.1%	7.4%	11.1%	9,541
July 2011	9.1%	7.6%	11.3%	9,783
June 2011	9.1%	7.6%	11.2%	9,752
May 2011	9.0%	7.6%	11.2%	9,794
April 2011	9.0%	7.8%	11.4%	9,993
March 2011	8.9%	8.0%	11.6%	10,203
February 2011	9.0%	8.2%	11.7%	10,284
January 2011	9.1%	8.3%	11.8%	10,320