New Hampshire’s unemployment rate remained at 3.8 percent in May, according to the latest monthly report from New Hampshire Employment Security.
The state has seen solid job growth for most of this year, and May was no exception. But that doesn't necessarily show up in the latest overall jobs number, and economist Annette Nielsen of New Hampshire Employment Security says there’s a reason why. “It’s reflecting that more people were employed in May from April, about 1400 or 1500, but also approximately the same amount have joined the labor force," Nielsen says.
The growing labor force, Nielsen says, shows those who had stopped looking for work are now feeling more confident about the state of the economy.
The construction industry had a particularly good month in terms of jobs, though Nielsen says there was growth across most of the private sector.
New Hampshire’s unemployment rate remains below the national rate of 5.5 percent, and it’s down from the state rate of May of 2014, when it stood at 4.4 percent.