New Hampshire’s tight job market got tighter than ever in June.
The state Tuesday notched its lowest unemployment rate ever in 46 years of record-keeping — 2% — a little more than two years after the unemployment rate spiked to a record 16.2% when the coronavirus pandemic shuttered parts of the economy.
What’s Working
“It signals that the labor market is still going strong in New Hampshire, as well as nationally,” said Brian Gottlob, director of the state Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau.
The record low rate will mean little relief for employers straining to fill job openings.
“Finding candidates has been really challenging, extremely challenging,” said Gina Smith, a technical recruiter and account manager at Apollo Professional Solutions, a staffing agency with its center of operations in Salem.
“A lot of them (job seekers) are looking for higher pay,” Smith said during a state virtual job fair Tuesday. “They apply and you don’t hear back from them.”
By fall, the state should regain all of the jobs it lost during the pandemic, according to Gottlob.
“About 3,000 more New Hampshire residents had jobs in June than in May (seasonally adjusted), fewer people indicated they are unemployed, and an increasing number of them are either new entrants into the labor force or people returning to the labor force who will soon find jobs,” he said in an email.
“The labor market got just a bit tighter from its already tight state,” Gottlob said.
Employment Security reported 749,080 residents were employed in June, nearly 20,000 more than a year ago. Another 15,540 were unemployed in June compared to more than 27,000 a year prior.
“New Hampshire had the fastest growing economy in the nation last quarter, and now, for the first time ever, we have an unemployment rate of 2% — a record in the 603,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said New Hampshire led the nation with the largest gain in its real gross domestic product, which is the inflation-adjusted value of the goods and services produced. The leading contributor was government and government enterprises.
There were 46 states that registered decreases.
Warren Jennings, general manager at fuel supplier Dead River Co., said he wasn’t surprised by the record low unemployment.
Hiring has been “very difficult,” especially finding technicians and drivers with commercial licenses.
For the next few months, hiring “will continue to be as challenging as it has been,” Jennings said. “I think the pandemic has changed people’s view of work.”
Jennings wasn’t on a recruiting mission when he found a new worker in Bedford.
“I recently met a young man at the gym where I work out, and he (now) works here,” he said.
