BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ unemployment rate increased to 7.4% in December as the state lost 600 jobs.
State labor officials say the December unemployment rate was up 0.7% over the previous month.
It was also 0.7% more than the national unemployment rate of 6.7%.
The state’s largest job losses were in the leisure and hospitality industries, which lost 9,200 jobs over the previous month for a 3.8% decrease.
Over the past year, those industries have lost 145,800 jobs, a 38% drop.
The December job losses come a month after the state added 12,600 jobs.
