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Berkshire County's Jobless Rate Drops

By Lucas Willard

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-994959.mp3

Pittsfield, MA – While the nation's unemployment rate is still hovering around 9%, Massachusetts still sits below at only 6.8 %
The October statistics by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development say that North Adams has dropped its unemployment rate over the past year from 9.5% to 8.5% and Pittsfield is boasting the fastest employment growth in the State at adding 1,600 jobs over the past year.

Heather Boulger of the Berkshire County Regional Employment Board explains the areas where the Berkshires have made progress

New grocery stores certainly have added to the area's job growth, but Boulger explains that it's not one big company adding to jobs in the area, but many smaller companies.

Stuart Chase is the executive director of One Berkshire, an independent non-profit in Pittsfield, focused on economic development. He says that tourism was up this season, which is always good news for the area, but also that the Berkshires has a diverse and flexible economy, to some extent. And that makes a difference.

But month to month figures are not always the best indicator of how an economy is recovering. John Bakija, an economics professor from Williams College explains that statistics must be looked at in the "big picture", and we're not out of the woods yet. And from August 2010 to September 2011, the work force in Berkshire County has actually shrunk.

Berkshire County was actually hit earlier by the recession than other areas of the Country. Williams College Economics Professor Steve Sheppard says that the small recovery could be just part of the natural cycles of recessions.

The non-profit sector is continuing to grow and develop in Berkshire County, and that along with many smaller for profit companies seem to be slowly digging the Berkshires out of the hole. As things improve nationwide, tourism and cultural programs may too. So the outlook for now is great news, but we're not out of the woods quite yet.

Reporting from WAMC's Berkshire Bureau at the Berkshire Eagle, I'm Lucas Willard.