The Massachusetts unemployment rate ticked higher in September and now sits half a percentage point above the rate one year ago. 

The state’s jobless rate in September was reported Oct. 18 by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development at 3.8 percent, up by 0.1 percentage points from August and 0.5 percentage points higher than the revised September 2023 unemployment rate of 3.3 percent.

Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the state agency also reported that preliminary job estimates for Massachusetts decreased by 2,600 jobs in September, following a revised loss of 2,100 jobs in August. 

Over-the-month job losses of 1,900 were reported in financial activities, 2,100 in leisure and hospitality, and 7,200 in government, which was attributed to "nuances of the seasonal adjustment process."

From September 2023 to September 2024, BLS estimates Massachusetts gained 34,100 jobs, the state said. 

The 3.8 percent unemployment rate in September is one-tenth of a percentage point higher than the five-year maximum assumed in the latest state projections about the trust fund used to pay jobless benefits.

That report, published last week, forecast the unemployment insurance trust fund will be nearly $300 million in the red by the end of 2028, a deficit that could grow larger if joblessness grows beyond 3.7 percent in the coming years. 

The Massachusetts unemployment rate this year was as low as 2.9 percent in February, March and April.

The national unemployment rate in September was 4.1 percent, up from 3.8 percent a year ago.