The statewide unemployment rate remained flat in July while employers reported a slight decrease in total jobs, according to the latest monthly labor data.
Labor officials said unemployment stayed at 4.8% last month, unchanged from June. The national rate inched upward one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.2% in the same span.
Over the past year, the statewide jobless rate grew 0.7 percentage points.
Massachusetts shed about 600 jobs in July, the second straight month with a decrease, data show. Between July 2024 and July 2025, total employment grew by 8,200 positions, or two-tenths of a percentage point.
Mark Rembert, chief economist in the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s Department of Economic Research, said construction and the health care and social assistance