BARNSTABLE – New statistics point to an improving job market on Cape Cod in the month of September.
The unemployment rate in Barnstable County dropped to 4.6 percent last month, down from 5.6 percent just a year ago.
The state unemployment rate fell to 4.5 percent last month, down from 5.7 percent a year ago.
Unemployment sits at 2.7 percent on Nantucket, the lowest in the state, while Plymouth County is at 4.7 percent and Dukes County rests at 3.6 percent.
David Augustinho, Executive Director of the Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board, said he believes the construction industry is contributing to the drop in unemployment numbers.
“Coming out of the recession, construction was one of the hardest hit areas. People were just not spending money on big ticket projects and I think that there’s been a big demand, especially when it comes to re-modeling and refurnishing the older homes,” said Augustinho.
While unemployment numbers have dropped, Augustinho said they could also increase in the coming months.
“I think we’re going to come to a point sometime during this next year, where we’ll be happy to stay even with where we’ve been the month before,” said Augustinho. “When you’re at 4.6 unemployment everyone is working who wants to be working.”
By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
The real unemployment number could be quite informative but we’ll never know what it is given the way the official unemployment rate is calculated. Why do we put up with this sort of thing?