PITTSFIELD — Berkshire County's unemployment rate fell by nearly a point to 7.8 percent in April, the first decrease in the area's monthly jobless level in seven months.
The decrease was a welcome development, but it comes with an asterisk: A drop in the state's unemployment rate is typical this time of the year, according to Heather P. Boulger, the executive director of the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board.
"This is when construction is picking up, and college students are getting job opportunities, so it's a transitional time," Boulger said.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that it's heading in the right direction," Boulger said. "I'm glad to see that there are less than 6,000 people unemployed. But it doesn't mean that we're completely out of the recession or the hard economic times yet. I hope the unemployment rate goes down. But I can't predict six months or a year from now."
The so-called seasonally unadjusted figures were released Tuesday by the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
Affected by the global economic recession that led to the closing of national toy retailer KB Toys of Pittsfield beginning in December, Berkshire County's unemployment rate rose steadily from 5 percent last October to 8.6 percent in February. But the rate appeared to stabilize when it remained at 8.6 percent in March.
For the first time in six months, Berkshire County's
unemployment rate is not higher than the state's figure. The Massachusetts rate was also 7.8 percent in April, a slight decrease from 8.2 percent in March.
The county's total labor force dropped by 363 workers to 71,408 employees in April. The number of employed county residents, which dropped by more than 300 between February and March, rose by 232 in April to 65,814, the second highest total of 2009.
Boulger said the drop in the county's total labor force could mean that people are either leaving the area or have decided to retire.
"I'm concerned that we're losing people in the labor force, but there's more people in the labor force than last year," she said.
The number of unemployed county residents dropped by 595 people in April to 5,594, the first time since January that it has been below the 6,000 mark. Only 3,134 county residents were unemployed in April 2008, when the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent.
"We actually have more people in the labor force, more people employed, and more people unemployed than a year ago," Boulger said.
Unemployment in the Pittsfield, North Adams, and Great Barrington labor market areas also dropped in April. The biggest decrease occurred in Great Barrington where unemployment fell more than a percentage point from 7.5 percent to 6.4 percent.
In the North Adams area, unemployment dropped from 9.6 percent to 9 percent in April. The jobless rate in the Pittsfield area went from 8.7 percent to 8 percent.
In the city of North Adams, the unemployment rate fell from 10.4 percent to 9.5 percent in April, the first time this year it has been below 10 percent. In the city of Pittsfield, unemployment dropped from 8.9 percent to 8.2 percent.
The unemployment rates for all of the state's labor market areas were lower in April than they were in March. The biggest unadjusted job gains were reported in Barnstable County, the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy area, and in Springfield.
To reach Tony Dobrowolski: tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com, or (413) 496-6224.