For the third month in a row, the Massachusetts unemployment rate rose slightly – from 6.3 percent to 6.5 percent in September, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Massachusetts also added over 5,000 jobs last month, primarily in the leisure and hospitality sector, as well as the professional, scientific and business service sector and also the construction sector.

Massachusetts’ unemployment rate remains lower than the national average, which was 7.8 percent in September.