BARNSTABLE – November’s unemployment numbers are in and they’re continuing on a downward trend for the Cape and Islands.
Barnstable County saw the unemployment rate for the month of November drop from 6 percent in 2015 to 3.3 percent in November 2016.
Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board Executive Director David Augustinho said that the steep drop is unique.
“I could see some season hirings be a part of that but to be almost three percentage points lower, that’s very remarkable,” said Augustinho.
Numbers in November 2016 continued to drop from those in November 2015 for Plymouth, Nantucket, Dukes and Bristol Counties.
Plymouth went from 4.7 percent to 2.6 percent, Nantucket dropped 5.2 percent to 3.1 percent, Dukes declined from 7.6 percent to 4.1 percent, and Bristol went from 5.4 percent to 3.1 percent last month.
Nearly 6,500 Barnstable County residents were unemployed in November last year, but that number has now dropped to over 3,500 in November 2016.
The state saw the unemployment rate drop from 4.5 percent in November 2015 to 2.6 percent in November 2016, seeing an increase of over 85,000 residents being employed.
“Almost every month the unemployment rate is lower than it was at the same time the year before so we’ll see if that trend continues to hold throughout the winter,” said Augustinho.
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter
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