A June jobs report showing a spike in North Shore unemployment since May is most likely a reflection of the hard time young people are having landing summer jobs or starting their careers, said Mary Sarris, executive director of the North Shore Workforce Investment Board.
Unemployment rates for North Shore cities and towns are still better than they were last year at this time, according to information the state released last week. But after declining slowly over the year, regional unemployment rates were either flat or up when compared with May's jobless numbers.
"Our unemployment rate did go up from 7 percent to 7.4 percent," Sarris said about May-to-June unemployment numbers for the 19 communities from Saugus to Ipswich that the local workforce investment board oversees.
"We have a pattern of an unemployment rate going up in June, and we theorize it is because of youth going into the labor market," Sarris said.
Cape Ann's three towns all boast June jobless rates lower than those of the North Shore figures or the state average.
Rockport, with an identified labor force of 4,108, shows 286 unemployed for a rate of 7 percent, compared to the North Shore's overall 7.4 percent and the state's 7.8 percent, while Essex has a jobless rate of 6.9 percent and Manchester a mark of 4.8 percent.
Manchester lists a work force of 2,679, with 129 of them out of work; Essex has a labor force of 1,840 with 127 unemployed, according to figures from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development's Department of Unemployment Assistance.
Gloucester figures
Gloucester's June unemployment rate was listed at 7.9 percent, higher than either the North Shore or state figures. And the city's rate is up from the 7.8 percent figure posted in May.
The city's 7.9 percent jobless rate marks an improvement over June 2010, when Gloucester's unemployment rate was listed as 9.5 percent, higher than the state's June 2010 mark of 8.9 percent.
But Gloucester's rate remains higher than its neighboring cities — with Salem at 7.5 percent, Peabody at 7.0, and Beverly at 6.7.
Gloucester's labor force numbers 16,388, according to the state's figures; the June rate of 7.9 percent means that 1,298 Gloucester workers are unemployed.
Regionally, the state's figures show the North Shore's workforce is up by 3,000 — and Sarris said the theory is "3,000 people decided it was time for them to look for a job."
The number of people looking for work is relatively high, and is similar to numbers seen in November in the run-up to the holiday season when people look for seasonal work, she added.
Some of the numbers beg for analysis.
One of the area's smallest and most affluent communities, Wenham, also has the highest jobless rate among the North Shore's cities and towns, at 9.1 percent. Yet Wenham has a relatively large population of young people, Sarris said, and the high jobless rate may reflect teens and recent college graduates struggling to find jobs.
"Young people are really finding it hard to get into the labor market," said Sarris, who said state figures show two out of three college graduates age 25 and under are in jobs that do not require a college degree.
Other statistics show a mixed jobs picture for the region.
The Peabody statistical area — which includes Peabody, Salem, Danvers, Marblehead, Swampscott, Lynn and Nahant — was one of only two areas statewide that lost jobs between June 2010 and June 2011. Barnstable was the other.
Year-over-year, the Peabody area lost 1,100 jobs. It's a drop of just 1.1 percent. The area also gained 800 jobs from May to June of this year. Total employment for the Peabody area stood at 99,600 last month.
So where did the jobs in the Peabody area go year-over-year?
According to state estimates, the Peabody area saw dips in financial activities (100 jobs); manufacturing (100 jobs); trade, transportation and utilities (300); retail trade (100); professional and business services (200); education and health services (700); and other services (100). There were gains in construction (100 jobs), leisure and hospitality (200), and government (100). There was no change in the number of information jobs.
There are signs the local job market is improving, said Donna Maturi, head of reference and information services at the Peabody Institute Library in Danvers.
Maturi, with the help of the North Shore Career Center, runs the North Shore Professional Networking Group for Job Seekers, which meets every other week.
"We had a smaller group this month, in July," Maturi said. However, a large group of 50 people showed up to a talk in June.
"We are going strong in many ways," said Maturi, who said she is seeing new faces all the time, which means that those who have been out of work for a long time may be finding jobs.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, by email at eforman@gloucestertimes.com.
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