Massachusetts economy expands modestly in Q4, UMass Journal Reports
Despite a faltering European economy, falling merchandise exports, weak national and international markets for information technology products, and policy uncertainty related to the "fiscal cliff," Massachusetts’ economy managed to grow at a moderate rate of 1.0 percent in the final quarter of 2012, according to the latest MassBenchmarks bulletin.
In contrast, U.S. real gross domestic product decreased at an annual rate of -0.1 percent during the same time period, according to the Advance Estimate released by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The state’s economy is forecasted to grow at annualized rate of 3.6 percent in the coming months. However, the methodology for the leading index does not take looming debates on the national budget (including sequestration and possible spending cuts) into account, except to the extent that expectations about spending cuts or other actions are reflected in the economic indicators that are used to construct the Index.
MassBenchmarks Senior Contributing Editor and Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Northeastern University, Dr. Alan Clayton-Matthews, who compiles and analyzes the Current and Leading indices, notes that although growth is predicted to continue, wage and salary income decreased from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, a factor which should temper expectations and could correspond with downward data revisions for the past quarter.
Read the full bulletin, ”Massachusetts economy expands modestly in Q4, UMass Journal Reports”
January 31, 2013
