Greater New Bedford Unemployment Rate Increased

Greater New Bedford's unemployment rate increased along with the rest of the state in January, with Greater New Bedford dropping 2,600 of its roughly 71,000 jobs and lifting the percentage of unemployed to 11.7 percent.

Among major cities New Bedford has the number one unemployment rate, ahead of the Fall River area's 11.3 percent and the Lawrence-Methuen-Salem area's 10.6 percent.

The non-seasonally-adjusted numbers indicate that the New Bedford area shed 3.7 percent of jobs between December 2013 and January 2014 — from 70,800 to 67,500 jobs.

Greater New Bedford is still better off than it was a year ago with a 0.8 percent decline in the unemployment rate since January 2013.