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BOSTON (State House News Service) - Employment rose in eight of the nine largest counties in Massachusetts from March 2022 to March 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which published employment and wage data for the first quarter of 2023 on Wednesday.
Suffolk County had the largest over-the-year increase in employment at 3 percent. Barnstable and Norfolk counties saw the next largest percent change, with around 1.8 percent increases in employment each.
Hampden County saw a 0.3 percent decrease in employment.
All nine of the largest counties the bureau tracked -- Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Hampden, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk and Worcester -- reported increases in the average weekly wage from the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023. The bureau considers large counties as those with average annual employment levels of 75,000 or more in 2022.
The largest weekly wage gains occurred in Barnstable County, which increased 8.4 percent, Plymouth County, a 8.1 percent increase, and Hampden County, a 7.9 percent increase.
Written By Sam Drysdale/SHNS
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