Report: Mass. economy continues to improve, but concerns remain

THE MASSACHUSETTS economy continues to perform well, given that total jobs, unemployment, wages, and gross state product are close to or better than pre-recession levels.
THE MASSACHUSETTS economy continues to perform well, given that total jobs, unemployment, wages, and gross state product are close to or better than pre-recession levels.

BOSTON – The Massachusetts economy continues to perform well, given that total jobs, unemployment, wages and gross state product are close to or better than pre-recession levels.
That’s according to the latest commentary released Thursday by the MassBenchmarks Editorial Board.
January’s unemployment rate fell over the year to 3.2 percent, which is 1.6 percentage points lower than the national average. The current unemployment rate also is among the lowest for the state since before the 2001 recession, according to the board.
The board noted that concerns about the state economy remain, despite these positive trends.
An area of concern involves the uncertainty regarding federal policy on immigration. Massachusetts has relied heavily on the foreign born as a key driver of population and labor force growth over the last three decades. The report said that the immigrant labor supply is “particularly critical” in the Greater Boston region, as well as in the Gateway Cities.
Nearly 28 percent of the workers in Greater Boston are foreign born, and approximately 62 percent of the state’s foreign born workforce is in Greater Boston.
While some foreign-born workers engage in low-skill work, nearly one-quarter of all workers in the Massachusetts technology sector are foreign born, the report states.
Massachusetts and the Greater Boston region have used foreign-born labor through the H-1B visa program to help fill job openings in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics occupations.
“Confusion and uncertainty about future immigration policy could have a chilling effect on both the current immigrant workforce (that could leave the U.S.) and the future supply of immigrant labor to Massachusetts across a wide variety of industries. There is already some evidence of a decrease in college applications from international students at the national level. … Foreign-born labor is particularly critical to STEM fields in the state, including health care and the technology sectors,” the report states.
Immigrant labor is also used in manufacturing (25 percent), and accommodation and food services (29 percent), the report states.
“In that Massachusetts relies on foreign-born labor in both high-skilled and modest-skilled sectors of the economy, it will be important for public policy officials and local business leaders to monitor this debate closely as it continues in Washington and beyond,” the report states.
MassBenchmarks is the journal of the Massachusetts economy and is published by the UMass Donahue Institute in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

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