The state’s unemployment rate jumped to 9.5 percent in January, according to figures released today by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. State labor officials also announced that December’s unemployment figures had to be revised upwards, from 9.1 percent to 9.3 percent.The latest jobless figures put Massachusetts dangerously close to the national unemployment rate of 9.7 percent. There are now 329,100 Massachusetts residents out of work, which does not bode well for the state’s economic recovery.
One thing the rising unemployment numbers make clear is that the Patrick Administration’s economic policy has been a failure. The lack of a comprehensive jobs creation plan is hurting Massachusetts and putting the Commonwealth at a huge competitive disadvantage. The policies enacted over the past three years are hurting Massachusetts and have made a bad situation even worse. The question now is, just how high does the unemployment rate need to go before the Patrick Administration finally gets serious about taking action to put people back to work?
