State’s monthly jobless rate remains steady at 3.5 percent

BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts labor officials say the state’s unemployment rate is holding steady at 3.5 percent for the eighth consecutive month.

The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said Friday that preliminary estimates show the state gained about 6,200 jobs in May, with gains seen across several sectors of the economy.

Massachusetts’ unemployment number in May remained slightly below the U.S. average of 3.8 percent.

The state’s secretary of labor and workforce development, Rosalin Acosta, says estimates point to 56,000 new jobs over the past 12 months, a sign of what she called “steady strength of the economy in the Commonwealth.”