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JOBS NUMBERS FLAT SINCE SUMMER

Although the Patrick administration has consistently pointed to a falling unemployment rate to underscore its message about an improving economy, a deeper look at jobs numbers tells a more textured story.

Employment in the Bay State has remained largely flat over the last six months, with employers adding an anemic 400 jobs since June 2011. But following sharp gains in July, employers entered a five-month period in which they shed 10,000 jobs, a trend capped Thursday by the announcement that the state saw a 6,200-job decrease in December.

"The job picture is much more sobering than it was six months ago, which will only place further pressure on the already strained state finances," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "As a result, we are seeing greater demand for state programs while experiencing slower revenue growth."

Trends in job growth are drawn from a survey of employers, and the unemployment rate is calculated through a survey of households - both compiled by federal labor officials. The separate methods sometimes paint conflicting trends in the state's employment picture.

Patrick administration officials say the recent job losses don't upend the narrative of a state leading the nation out of recession.

"The economy here is still growing. Maybe it's grown slightly less than it did before July," said Joanne Goldstein, secretary of labor and workforce development, pointing to the fact that the state unemployment rate fell from 7 percent to 6.8 percent in December, despite the job losses. "We're very happy that the rate went down. That's a good indicator that we continue to go in the right direction."

Gov. Deval Patrick said he hoped December's job losses would amount to a statistical anomaly and would be revised to reflect the state's declining unemployment rate.

"I don't know quite what to make of the separate accounting. My guess is that it will go up when revised on a monthly basis. Right now I'm focused on the rate and that's really good news," Patrick told reporters in the Senate Reading Room Thursday.

Patrick is scheduled to deliver his State of the Commonwealth address Monday night in the House chamber, followed two days later by the release of his fiscal 2013 budget blueprint. He said Thursday he plans to talk about ways to speed up job growth.

"I'm also focused on the fact that we have more to do and I have some ideas on how to accelerate that reduction in unemployment that I'll be sharing this Monday at the State of the Commonwealth," he said.

The conflicting signals on job growth underscore Patrick's continued challenge to portray Massachusetts's economy as in a robust recovery from the economic crisis of 2008 and 2009.

In a phone interview, Goldstein told the News Service that despite negative job growth in recent months, the state had made gains over the past year in all sectors of employment except government, which shed 5,000 jobs.

"I would not say we're stuck in neutral," she said.

Goldstein said retailers saw a burst of hiring in December but that she typically anticipates a jobs slowdown in December and January because of losses in construction and a post-holiday swoon among retailers. However, she pointed to a recent announcement by Home Depot that it planned to add 70,000 jobs nationwide this spring as a sign that job growth may be on the horizon.