The February unemployment numbers have been released, and they come with good news – communities across the Merrimack Valley saw a decrease in their unemployment rates, and statewide we continue to see a decrease in seasonally-adjusted unemployment since June of 2020. Statewide unemployment now sits at 7.1%, compared with 2.7% before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| Community | March ’20 Unemployment % | February ’21 Unemployment % |
| Amesbury | 2.7 | 6.0 |
| Andover | 2.2 | 5.3 |
| Boxford | 1.9 | 5.0 |
| Georgetown | 2.2 | 5.5 |
| Groveland | 2.5 | 5.1 |
| Haverhill | 2.2 | 8.2 |
| Lawrence | 5.1 | 15.4 |
| Merrimac | 2.5 | 5.8 |
| Methuen | 3.2 | 8.7 |
| Newbury | 2.6 | 6.9 |
| Newburyport | 2.4 | 5.5 |
| North Andover | 2.3 | 5.6 |
| Rowley | 3.3 | 6.8 |
| Salisbury | 3.4 | 7.8 |
| West Newbury | 2.1 | 4.2 |
About this data: The state reports municipal-level unemployment data as non-seasonally adjusted. This means that fluctuations in unemployment, including the winter uptick we saw in December and January, maybe due to changes in seasonal work and may not be a complete picture of the workforce. Statewide, the seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers actually suggest a continued decrease in unemployment throughout Massachusetts since June 2020, as shown in the bold green line on the graph above.
Data Source: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Labor Market Information
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