Mass. Unemployment Rises To 8.8 Percent

The Massachusetts unemployment rate rose to 8.8 percent in July, up from 8.6 percent the previous month.

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Department said the state lost 2,800 jobs in July, with government and manufacturing sustaining the largest monthly declines. The government sector declined by 2,000 and manufacturing was down by 1,900.

Policy Director Rob Smith said the increase is, in part, because of the expansion of the Massachusetts labor pool from recent college graduates who are looking for work.

"There are more people in the labor market without work in July as compared to June. But these are new entrants, so that contributed to a slight increase in the unemployment rate," Smith said.

The overall labor force increased by 21,500 in July. More than 12,000 of those people had jobs and about 9,000 did not.

The national unemployment rate also declined from 9.5 to 9.4 percent from June to July of this year.