Report Suggests Job Creation Has Slowed During Baker’s First Year

BOSTON— In response to today's story reporting on the slowing Massachusetts economy, the Massachusetts Democratic Party today highlighted the significant risks of Gov. Baker’s status quo leadership and lack of longer term vision.

“Under eight years of Democratic leadership, the Bay State emerged from the Great Recession faster and stronger than most states through continued investments in sectors like the life sciences, clean energy and tourism,” said MassDems spokesman Pat Beaudry. “Unfortunately, our growth in each of these key, job-creating industries is jeopardized by Gov. Baker's status quo approach and lack of vision and leadership."

According to today's Boston Globe:

"New data paint a starkly different picture of the Massachusetts economy over the past two years, indicating that job growth slowed sharply in 2015 and contradicting earlier estimates that heralded it as a banner year for the state’s labor market.

The revisions suggest that job creation in this expansion peaked in 2014 and the state is heading into a period of slower and likely diminishing job growth as the Massachusetts economy nears full employment — generally viewed as a unemployment rate of less than 5 percent — and baby boomers retire. Annual job growth, now estimated at 2.4 percent in 2014 and 1.2 percent in 2015, is projected to slip to 0.7 percent by 2018, according to recent forecasts.

Massachusetts gained 41,100 jobs in 2015, a significant decline from the increase of 73,800 jobs first estimated by the US Labor Department. The revised figures suggest that Massachusetts was affected by the same forces that buffeted the US economy, including slower global growth, unsettled financial markets, and a stronger dollar, which hurts manufacturers by making the products they sell overseas more expensive."

The report notes that job growth peaked in 2014 – the year Baker was elected – and has slowed and may possibly begin to diminish in the not so distant future.

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