New Bedford, Massachusetts Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for New Bedford fell 0.1 percentage points in October 2018 to 5.0%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 1.5 percentage points higher than the Massachusetts rate. The unemployment rate in New Bedford peaked in December 2009 at 12.9% and is now 7.9 percentage points lower. You can also compare New Bedford unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate	October 2018	Month/Month	Year/Year
National	3.7%	0.0	-0.4
Massachusetts	3.5%	-0.1	0.0
New Bedford	5.0%	-0.1	-0.4

Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.¹ All comparisons are made with October 2018 data as November 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 10,216. There are now 5,800 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 4,302 in December 2017, the number of unemployed has now grown by 114.

Unemployed Persons	October 2018	Month/Month	Year/Year
New Bedford	4,416	-103	-171

Number of Unemployed Persons

New Bedford, Massachusetts Unemployment History

Date	National Unemployment Rate	Massachusetts Unemployment Rate	New Bedford Unemployment Rate	New Bedford Unemployed
November 2018	3.7%	—	—	—
October 2018	3.7%	3.5%	5.0%	4,416
September 2018	3.7%	3.6%	5.1%	4,519
August 2018	3.9%	3.6%	5.7%	4,972
July 2018	3.9%	3.6%	5.7%	5,047
June 2018	4.0%	3.5%	5.7%	4,949
May 2018	3.8%	3.5%	5.5%	4,760
April 2018	3.9%	3.5%	5.4%	4,635
March 2018	4.1%	3.5%	5.3%	4,565
February 2018	4.1%	3.5%	5.3%	4,498
January 2018	4.1%	3.5%	5.2%	4,376
December 2017	4.1%	3.5%	5.1%	4,302