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MASSACHUSETTS ADDS 3,400 JOBS IN SEPTEMBER, UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AT 5.1 PERCENT
Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development
October 19, 2006
Contact: Linnea Walsh
O: 617-626-7111
C: 617-293-3080
Robert D'Alessandro, 617-626-5401
Massachusetts added 3,400 new jobs in September with job gains in most super sectors. Expansion in the labor force caused the unemployment rate to edge up slightly to 5.1 percent from 4.9 percent in August. The rate has averaged 4.9 percent through the first nine months of 2006. One year ago the Massachusetts rate was 4.8 percent.
With the increase in jobs in September to 3,228,200, jobs are up 33,100 from one year ago, with most of the gains (+25,100) recorded since January 2006. Revised jobs data for August shows jobs off by 900 since July and not 1,000 as originally recorded. Professional, scientific, and business services generated the largest number of jobs in September followed by leisure and hospitality, financial activities, educational and health services and construction. Massachusetts has added 61,100 payroll jobs since December 2003.
Professional, scientific, and business services added 2,100 jobs in September with job gains now totaling 5,300 over the past four months. Over the year, employment is up 9,500 or 2.1 percent to 472,100, the highest annual growth rate and just behind educational and health services for the largest net job increase of any industry super sector. Nearly all the net over the year growth occurred in the professional, scientific, and technical segment, with very strong job growth recorded in architectural and engineering services (+5.0 percent), management, scientific, and technical consulting services (+4.7 percent), and scientific research and development (+3.9 percent). The overall super sector has added 33,600 jobs since bottoming out in June 2003, but employment is still off 35,400 or 7.0 percent from its January 2001 peak of 507,500.
Education and health services employment increased by 200 in September, after recording a 2,300 job gain in August, the largest one month increase in nearly four years. The most noteworthy job gains were recorded in physician’s offices. At 600,500, Massachusetts’ largest super sector has added 9,700 jobs from one year ago, the largest net increase of any super sector and the second fastest rate of growth. The over the year job gains were heavily concentrated in hospitals and ambulatory health care services.
Trade, transportation, and utilities employment was off 700 in September. Employment is down 1,000 from one year ago to 567,600, as this super sector remains the only one to show any real over the year job decline. The only retail industry to show a significant over the year decline was general merchandise stores (-2,800 or -6.4 percent), while the largest over the year gains were posted in building material stores (+900 or +3.2 percent) and furniture and home furnishings stores (+800 or 6.1 percent).
Employment in the information super sector at 87,700 was essentially unchanged (-100) both over the month and over the year. Since September 2005, a strong job increase of 1,000 or 4.8 percent in software publishing was offset by a decline of 900 or 4.2 percent in newspaper and periodical publishing. Information jobs are down 29,300 or 25.0 percent from its January 2001 peak of 117,000.
Financial activities added 500 jobs in September, with employment now recording an increase in eight of the nine months in 2006. At 225,700, financial activities jobs are up 3,400 or 1.5 percent from one year ago, with nearly all the gains (3,100) occurring since February. Banking, insurance, and real estate, and insurance accounted for most of the over the year gains.
Leisure and hospitality gained 900 jobs in September. At 294,800, leisure and hospitality jobs are up 2,700 over the year.
Construction employment was up 200 in September to 142,300. Due to rapid job increases in the last quarter of 2005, construction still shows an 1,800 job increase over the past year. However, employment is off 2,200 since January.
Manufacturing employment was down 1,500 in September with small job losses scattered among a number of durable and non durable goods industries. At 305,000, manufacturing employment is up 2,000 or 0.7 percent from one year ago. The largest over the year job gains were posted in computer and electronic products. Other industries with solid over the year gains included printing, transportation equipment, electrical equipment and components, and chemicals, while textiles and paper manufacturing posted the biggest declines. Manufacturing employment is down 105,400 jobs, or 25.7 percent, since reaching 410,400 in July 2000.
The labor force (the sum of the employed and the unemployed) jumped by 16,500 in September to 3,387,400. The number of employed Massachusetts residents increased by 8,500 to 3,215,900. The rapid labor force expansion over the month also resulted in an increase of 8,000 in the number of Massachusetts unemployed to 171,500.
The job numbers are the result of a monthly survey that uses U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology. More than 9,000 Massachusetts employers are surveyed to determine the number of jobs by industry. These estimates are the economic indicator used to gauge employment growth patterns in Massachusetts.
Estimates for the labor force are developed using the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics model. The estimates are based on information on Massachusetts residents’ employment and unemployment status collected through a small monthly sample survey of households.
NOTES: The local area unemployment statistics for September 2006 will be released on Tuesday, October 24, 2006. The October 2006 unemployment rate and labor force data for Massachusetts will be released on Thursday, November 16, 2006, as will the October 2006 survey of jobs. (See the January 2006 Media Advisory annual schedule for complete listing of release dates). Detailed labor market information is available at the DWD website: www.mass.gov/dwd.
Historical labor force and unemployment estimates for Massachusetts from 2000 through 2005 were revised as of 3/2/06 to reflect annual year-end revisions, methodological changes, and updated seasonal adjustment factors.
Historical jobs estimates for Massachusetts from 2001 through 2005 were revised as of 3/2/06 to reflect annual year-end revisions and updated seasonal adjustment factors.
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FINANCIAL AID TASK FORCE MAKES RECOMMENDATIONS
October 19, 2006
More than two years in the making, the Task Force on Student Financial Aid presented its final report and policy recommendations to the state Board of Higher Education today. “Massachusetts' public colleges have been facing declining appropriations at a faster rate than schools in many other states, and the result has been higher prices for students and more pressure on the financial aid system,” the 57-page report concludes. Over the last ten years, after accounting for inflation, tuition and fees increased by 39 percent in the University of Massachusetts system, 29 percent at the state colleges, and 9 percent at the community colleges, according to the report. “In addition, reduced support for higher education is a matter for concern if it then reduces the state’s ability to produce the educated workers necessary for economic growth.” During the 2004-2005 school year, 37 percent of full-time undergraduates received federal grants; 28 percent received work study subsidies; and 86 percent received federal loans. The rising costs and unmet needs are causing families to wrack up more debt and full-time students to work more than 20 hours a week, hurting their schoolwork, the report says. The report’s three-tiered set of recommendations includes a focus on lower-middle class students, and calls for loan forgiveness for students with state-funded college loans who work in teaching, nursing, and science and technology-related fields. The report also recommends tuition and fee waivers for state high school graduates attending community colleges and tax credits to employers who offer loan repayment programs. In an effort to emphasize affordability, the report proposes: sending need-based financial aid to students whose family income is equal to or less than the state’s median income; seeking “legislative appropriation language” for continued budgetary support of the MASSGrant program; and conducting annual evaluations of the state’s financial aid programs. Currently, it takes 73 percent of the annual income of lowest-income families to pay for a public four-year college, up from 59 percent in 1992, the report says. The report, which contains case studies of grants and programs in 16 other states and summaries of public hearings held earlier this year, also suggests starting aid awareness programs as early as eighth grade and creating a “statewide college-financing program” to aid parents in planning for college expenses. The recommendations will inform consideration of financial aid-related bills in the 2007-2008 legislative session.
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