The number of employed Springfield residents rose last month from 58,433 to 59,352; the number of jobless fell from 7,350 to 7,089.
SPRINGFIELD — The city’s unemployment rate fell in September to 10.7 percent from 11.2 percent in August.
September’s jobless rate is also lower than the 11.8 percent recorded a year ago, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
The number of employed Springfield residents rose last month from 58,433 to 59,352. The number of jobless fell from 7,350 to 7,089. The city’s total labor force rose from 65,783 to 66,441.
“That’s great. More people are looking for work, and there are more people with jobs,” said Karl J Petrick, associate professor of economics at Western New England University.
But even with an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent, Springfield had the fourth-highest unemployment rate in the state, behind Lawrence, Fall River and New Bedford. Holyoke was fifth-highest in the state at 10 percent, down from 10.9 percent in August 2012 and 10.7 percent in September 2011.
As a region, Greater Springfield had an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent, down from 7.8 percent last month and 8.2 percent a year ago. The region gained 7,500 jobs in the month, a 2.6 percent increase.
Much of that gain was seasonal, the result of colleges and schools staffing up for the new school year said Rena Kottcamp, director of research for the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment. But this year’s increase was bigger than 2011’s August-to-September bump of 6,600 jobs.
Since September of 2011, the region has gained only 1,100 jobs, or about four-tenths of a percentage point.
That’s too little growth, said Robert A. Nakosteen, professor of economics and statistics at the Isenberg School of Management of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He said the population grows at a rate of about 1 percent. Jobs would have to grow by about 2 percent to keep up with a growing population and make a dent in joblessness.
“I think we are sort of in a period where the economy is bumping along,” Nakosteen said. “I see nothing on the horizon that is going to turn it around.”
Nakosteen cited economic problems in Europe and Asia and the impending “fiscal cliff” of federal tax hikes and budget cuts.
Petrick said one big shock could come in January when a 2 percent cut in the payroll tax from 2010 is expected to expire. The cut stimulated spending by putting an average of $900 extra a year in the pockets of working families.
“It’s like getting a raise,” Petrick said.
According to the state, the statewide unadjusted unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. Adjusted for seasonal changes in the economy, that works out to 6.3 percent.
The national unadjusted average is 7.8 percent.
Kottcamp said leisure and hospitality joined government, which includes public education, and private education and health care with big job gains over the past month.
Professional services, manufacturing and trade-transportation and utilities all lost employment as did construction. Construction is down possibly because the sector took off last summer with tornado recovery work.
At FutureWorks, a career center in Springfield, the number of job openings posted fell by 37 percent from 389 in September 2011 to 244 in September 2012, said Kevin E. Lynn manager of business services. On the positive side, 309 people told FutureWorks they’d found work in the last month, up 12 percent from the 276 who reported finding work last year at this time.
“People are getting hired more, but at the same time you are seeing that employers are less confident,” Lynn said. “I keep hearing that they don’t want to hire someone just to turn around and lay them off.”