HADLEY, Mass. – The Massachusetts gross domestic product grew 4 percent in the second quarter of 2017, according to a report released Friday by MassBenchmarks, the journal of the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
The United States GDP growth was 2.6 percent for the second quarter.
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The report said Massachusetts grew 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017, 0.1 percentage point less than the national average growth.
However, wage and salary income for Massachusetts increased 24 percent in the second quarter of 2017 year over year, compared to a national growth estimate of 3.7 percent.
Payroll employment in the Bay State grew at a 0.9 percent annual rate in the second quarter of 2017 compared to 1.4 percent national growth.
Unemployment in Massachusetts rose from 3.1 percent in December 2016 to 3.6 percent in March and 4.3 percent in June, while the national unemployment rate fell from 4.7 percent in December 2016 to 4.5 percent in March and 4.4 percent in June.
According to the report, “The rise in the state’s unemployment rate reflects a rapid increase in the labor force that outpaced rising employment in the first six months of the year. This rapid increase in the size of the Commonwealth’s labor force – indicative of a healthy labor market attracting new or returning job-seekers into the labor force – explains the seeming paradox of both rising employment and a rising unemployment rate.”
The report also projected continued growth in the state.
MassBenchmarks’ Leading Index predicted the Massachusetts economy will grow at a 2.7 percent annual rate for the remainder of 2017.
However, the study noted in a final statement that indicated the “labor supply can be expected to increasingly become a constraint on state economic growth as the Massachusetts economy contends with the demographic constraints of an aging workforce.”
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
