The unemployment snapshot featuring the numbers for April 2021 have been released. As the state fully reopens with minimal COVID-19 restrictions, unemployment continues to trend downward across Massachusetts and here in the Merrimack Valley. Although most of our communities still have an unemployment rate roughly double the pre-pandemic rate, it is down significantly from the peak we saw in June of 2020.
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| Community | March ’20 Unemployment % | April ’21 Unemployment % |
| Amesbury | 2.7 | 4.5 |
| Andover | 2.2 | 4.6 |
| Boxford | 1.9 | 3.3 |
| Georgetown | 2.2 | 4.6 |
| Groveland | 2.5 | 3.8 |
| Haverhill | 2.2 | 6.9 |
| Lawrence | 5.1 | 13.6 |
| Merrimac | 2.5 | 5.0 |
| Methuen | 3.2 | 7.6 |
| Newbury | 2.6 | 4.8 |
| Newburyport | 2.4 | 4.3 |
| North Andover | 2.3 | 4.6 |
| Rowley | 3.3 | 5.1 |
| Salisbury | 3.4 | 6.3 |
| West Newbury | 2.1 | 2.9 |
About this data: The unemployment snapshot for April 2021 contains the state-reported municipal-level data as non-seasonally adjusted. This means that fluctuations in unemployment, including the winter uptick we saw in December and January, may be 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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