State unemployment ticks up

The statewide unemployment rate climbed again in April to slightly widening the gap with the national joblessness rate labor representatives announced Citing federal input the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Rise broadcasted that unemployment in Massachusetts rose two-tenths of a percentage point from March to April The national unemployment rate remained level at in that span It was the fourth straight month that both the labor force and the unemployment rate grew Compared to April the labor force included about more people and the unemployment rate was percentage points higher Employers also added about jobs in April according to results of a different monthly labor survey building on the positions added in March Department of Economic Research Chief Economist Mark Rembert commented Friday that the job arena remained stable despite economic headwinds The unemployment rate edged up but the bulk significantly we haven t seen an uptick in layoffs or new unemployment alleges meaning the uptick is being driven by more people entering the workforce and looking for work Rembert explained in a announcement While employment is relatively stable plenty of businesses have voiced low confidence in the local economic outlook amid uncertainty about federal spending and tariffs Economists have also forecast sluggish improvement in Massachusetts Earlier this month federal economists broadcasted that U S employers added a surprisingly strong jobs in April and the unemployment rate held at a historically healthy Plenty of economists still anticipate that a negative impact from contract wars will materialize this year for American workers Last Tuesday Microsoft began laying off about workers nearly of its workforce and its largest job cuts in more than two years as the company spends heavily on artificial intelligence Other companies that have revealed job cuts this year include Workday Dow CNN Starbucks Southwest Airlines and Facebook parent company Meta The Labor Department s majority of contemporary declared that the four-week average of contends which softens selected of the week-to-week fluctuations rose by to The total number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits for the week of May rose by to million Material from Associated Press used in this document