Record Unemployment Hits Some MA Communities Harder Than Others

BOSTON — The unprecedented job losses during the coronavirus economic slowdown have not been spread evenly across Massachusetts, with poor, urban cities like Lawrence and Springfield, and towns with seasonal economies like those on Cape Cod, having far greater rates of estimated unemployment than other places.

The breakdown by municipality and by zip code comes from the Pioneer Institute, a free market think tank that released a COVID-19 unemployment tracker Thursday. The release of the tool comes on the same day that U.S. Department of Labor reported 44,467 Massachusetts residents filed new unemployment claims for the week ending May 9.

The hospitality industry has been hit hardest in what most economists believe is the start of a prolonged recession, with Massachusetts restaurant owners warning this week that 60,000 of the 150,000 jobs lost so far may never come back. That fact is reflected in Pioneer's data set, which shows the highest job loss rate on Cape Cod and in western Massachusetts. Both regions are highly dependent on restaurant and lodging jobs.

The town-by-town unemployment data set uses weekly data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment insurance claim reports, as well as estimates based on 2019 employment by occupation and industry, and monthly labor force projections by state and metropolitan areas. According to the data compiled by Applied Geographic Solutions Inc. for Pioneer, the following Massachusetts communities had the highest unemployment rates as of May 2:

"These data provide many insights, but specifically one key conclusion: Massachusetts is experiencing a hemorrhaging of jobs not just in urban or 'core' areas, like Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, but in rural and urban areas alike," the Pioneer Institute said. "This could be due to areas like Berkshire, Nantucket, and Barnstable Counties relying heavily on hospitality-related industries, as well as others deemed vulnerable because of the COVID-19 situation."

The report also includes estimated unemployment rates for all 14 Massachusetts counties:

Explore the Pioneer Institute's COVID Unemployment Tracker and look up unemployment data for your town.

While the number of Massachusetts residents filing for first-time unemployment claims has been declining since March, the total number of people out of work has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression. In the eight weeks since companies began laying off and furloughing workers, 859,757 Massachusetts residents have applied for unemployment benefits.

The biggest weekly claims number in Massachusetts during the Great Recession came in December 2008, when 22,028 people filed for unemployment during a single week. But in 2008, layoffs came in waves over the course of several months.

Nationally, 2.98 million people filed for unemployment in the week ending May 2. The number of claims fell from the 3.17 million the previous week. Before the unprecedented unemployment claims started in March, the worst week for national unemployment claims was 695,000 in 1982.

More Coronavirus Coverage On Massachusetts Patch:

• Restaurant Owners Say 60,000 MA Jobs May Be Gone For Good
• MA Small Business Hit Harder Than Most By Coronavirus Shutdown
• What MA Businesses Could Reopen In Phase 1
• Coronavirus Case Counts For Every Massachusetts Town (Updated May 6)

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).