County Jobless rate dips to 15.8%

After jumping nearly, a full percentage point in June, the Berkshire County unemployment rate fell back to 15.8 percent last month, the same level that it reached in May.

The Berkshire Eagle is reporting that according to newly releases state figures, the slight increases in the county’s total labor force and the number of employed residents, combined with a small decrease in the number of unemployed, caused unemployment in the county to fall from 16.5 percent back in June.

According to the publication, unemployment in Berkshire County has been in double figures since the pandemic caused unemployment levels to soar back in April, and although state unemployment fell substantially, to 16.2 percent, in July, the local jobless rate remained below the state’s rate for the third consecutive month.

Unemployment rates for the Pittsfield metropolitan area, and the cities of North Adams and Pittsfield, all are higher than the state’s unemployment rate, with Pittsfield topping the list at 19.1 percent. How is the county doing versus the rest of the country? The unemployment rate in across the nation is 10.2 percent.

The Eagle article reports that the Berkshire unemployment rate had peaked at 16.7 percent in April before falling in May, but last month’s decline reveals that the high unemployment numbers caused by the pandemic might be starting to fade, according to industry relations manager for the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board, Shannon Zayac.