While most of the country is having trouble finding work, people searching for jobs in Boston continue to have an easier time than most. During the month of November of November, the city’s unemployment rate was only 5 percent. Massachusetts had a slightly higher jobless rate of 5.9 percent, according to the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. At the same time 6.8 percent of the nation was without work.
Despite this, Boston and the rest of Massachusetts is having a more difficult time processing unemployment benefit. Those who have recently lost their jobs have been advised to call the state’s claim centers between the middle and latter part of the day in order to reduce the number of delays experienced, according to the Boston Herald.
Since last year the number of people without work in Boston and the rest of Massachusetts have risen significantly. Twelve months ago there were only 107,000 people without work. Now there are approximately 200,000 residents struggling to find jobs.
According to the Herald, unemployment centers have been receiving so many calls that they are being answered with busy signals. In order to help fix these problems, first time claimants are now being directed to call centers.
One good thing that has come out of this is the fact that there are more Boston jobs and positions throughout Massachusetts at unemployment offices. Currently there are 140 people in charge of answering phones, which is almost twice the number there was in the beginning of October.
Overall, approximately 8,000 jobs in Massachusetts were lost during the month of November. During December, employers across the nation cut around 524,000 employment opportunities, causing unemployment to rise to 7.2 percent.
For 2008, the U.S. economy dropped somewhere around 2.6 million jobs, which is the most positions cut since 1945. During that year almost 2.8 million jobs were done away with.