Employed for the Holidays: Belmont's Unemployment Drops

After hitting a 12-month high in October, the number of unemployed Belmont residents has decreased in November to where the rate is approximately half the national level.

According to the state's Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, 63 residents found employment in November as the number of the unemployed in Belmont fell to 566 residents, a 4.2 percent non-seasonally adjusted rate. 

The unemployment rate dipped from 4.6 percent in October when 629 residents were without work.

The 4.2 percent is below the 6.1 percent for the state in October and the US's 7.7 percent. The current unemployment rate is nearly 50 percent lower then the high water mark for unemployment in Belmont for the past 10 years when, in June 2009, 851 residents found themselves looking for work, 6.6 percent of the work force.

The lowest unemployment rate in the past decade was in April 2007 when only 317 residents, or 2.5 percent, could not find work.