Rockingham Times

A recent unemployment report shows that New Hampshire’s unemployment rate stayed the same for the month of July.

New Hampshire’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stayed at 2.9%, according to a July New Hampshire Employment Security report. The state's unemployment rate is one of the lowest in the nation. The national average unemployment rate was 5.4% for the month of July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest unemployment rates in the United States in May occurred in Nebraska (2.3%), Utah (2.6%), New Hampshire (2.9%) and South Dakota (2.9%),” Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers, wrote in an Aug. 20 Tweet.

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s unemployment rate rose to more than 16%, which amounted to tens of thousands of laid-off workers, The Conway Daily Sun reported.

According to NHPR News, the report shows that New Hampshire saw a decrease of 1,600 residents working, but this can blamed on the effects of the pandemic, which can make the traditional formulas used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics flawed.

Data also showed an increase of employment in tourism-related sectors, where around 6,000 new jobs were filled. However, the economy has not returned to pre-pandemic levels yet.