Boston Globe: Mass. employment hits all-time high
A Boston Globe article describing the state’s all-time high employment rate quoted UMass Donahue Institute Economic and Public Policy Research group director Dan Hodge.
Examining Massachusetts’ current 6.3% unemployment rate, Hodge does not believe the number reflects the fact that the state’s population has grown as the state struggled to regain jobs it lost a decade ago.
The unemployment rate also does not reflect the number of discouraged people who have given up their job search. (They are not counted in the most widely used official Department of Labor unemployment number.)
Unlike states that have benefited from gas and oil export booms, Massachusetts has been successfully launching startups and undertaking efforts to stanch the loss of manufacturing jobs. New life sciences companies and technology startups are also incrementally adding new workers all the time, putting Massachusetts on what appears to be a sustainable path of growth.
“To me, it’s not cause for celebration,” Hodge said of the employment record. “But it is cause for optimism.”
Read article: Mass. employment hits all-time high
April 17, 2014
