Mass. Added 7,100 Jobs In December, Finishing State’s Best Year For Jobs Since 2000

Massachusetts added nearly 74,000 jobs in 2015, according to preliminary estimates released by the state labor department Thursday, making it comfortably the state's strongest year of job growth since 2000.

The state added 95,500 jobs in dot-c0m-fueled 2000, the state labor department previously told WBUR. The jobs totals are raw numbers.

“The bottom line is the economy seems strong, consistent and growing in the key growth sectors,” state Labor Secretary Ronald Walker II told WBUR's Newscast Unit on Thursday morning.

Walker said last year's job growth rate in Massachusetts was 2.1 percent.

Thursday's report said the state gained an estimated 7,100 jobs last month — strong growth that followed the better-than-expected national employment report for December. The reports often move in tandem.

Thursday's report also revised down the number of jobs the state added in November, from an initially estimated 5,900 to 4,900. Still, Massachusetts added an estimated 73,800 jobs throughout 2015.

Despite December's job growth, the state unemployment rate remained at 4.7 percent, as the state labor force also grew over the month, by 1,900.

Over the year, the Massachusetts jobless rate declined from 5.3 percent.

The national unemployment rate is currently 5 percent.

Thursday's jobs report came as world stock markets are suffering through their worst stretch in recent memory. After Wednesday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down more than 10 percent since the new year.

Stocks in America were up after opening Thursday, as of 10:45 a.m.

The jobs figures are based on a survey of employers, with the unemployment rate based on a survey of households. Both the jobs numbers and the unemployment rate are subject to revision.