New data shows New Hampshire’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate held steady at 3.9 percent in March, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been changes in the state’s labor market.
Economist Annette Nielsen with New Hampshire Employment Security says there’s more movement among those with jobs and those seeking them. “When there’s more employment opportunities," Nielsen said, "you see a tendency of more people that have been sitting kind of on the fringes joining back in. And that’s what we’re seeing right now.”
The number of employed residents grew in March, as did the state labor force as a whole.
Nielsen also says two months of 3.9 percent unemployment is a positive sign on its own, as she says that was the norm for New Hampshire before the Great Recession.