HYANNIS – The latest unemployment numbers are in for the Cape and Islands and it’s showing that things have stayed about the same since last year.
The unemployment rate for Barnstable County from April 2016 is the same as last month’s, at 5.2 percent.
It’s the same with Bristol County, who saw their unemployment rate from last April and April 2017 stay the same at 4.8 percent.
Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board Executive Director David Augustinho said that despite months where the numbers kept decreasing, the region has plateaued.
“Now we’ve just reached the point where, whatever the new normal is, this is it,” said Augustinho.
Some counties saw a slight uptick in their numbers with Dukes County going from 6.1 percent in April 2016 to 6.2 percent in April 2017 and Nantucket County seeing theirs go from 4.8 percent to 5.1 percent last month.
The state’s unemployment rate last month was also the same as April 2016 at 3.8 percent.
The only area to see a decrease in numbers was Plymouth County, which was 4.1 percent in April 2016, but went down to 4 percent last month.
Despite the rate being about even from this time last year, Augustinho said he’s still pleased with the outlook.
“For right now, I think that somewhere around 5 percent unemployment rate for April is a pretty good number for the Cape and Islands.”
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