A small group of protesters gathered at Five Corners in Vineyard Haven Wednesday to speak out against state and local pandemic restrictions that have temporarily put them and others out of work.

The Island has the second lowest seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate in the state, according to recent data released by the state’s executive office of labor and workforce development. The office reports that the Tisbury labor market area, which includes all six Island towns, had a seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate of 3.8 per cent in July, while the state average was 6.6 per cent. Statewide, Nantucket had the lowest unemployment rate for July, calculated to be 2.9 per cent.

More Island workers than ever are without jobs and seeking unemployment benefits this winter.

Despite the claimed end of the recession, the number of foreclosure proceedings on the Vineyard appears to be increasing, along with unemployment.

Analysis of the space taken up by foreclosure-related advertising in the Gazette shows that it took up more than twice the column inches in the December quarter of 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.

And Chris Wells, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, said this week he believed unemployment on the Island could be as high as 50 per cent over the next couple of months.