Jobs in Massachusetts

For John, BLUF:  Here in Massahusetts our employment picture is a flat line, and could be worse under a President Trump reeconfigured economy.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Mass. job market is stalling even before MAGAnomics kicks in

Here is the sub-headline:

The stagnant job market underscores the state’s vulnerability as the White House seeks to cut health care and education spending

From The Boston Globe, by Columnist Larry Edelman, Updated 24 March 2025, 8:06 a.m..

Yes, this is three weeks late, but it is an issue that is still with us, and after the problems on Wall Street this week, should be of concern to us.

Here is the lede plus one:

Massachusetts' employment growth has been, to use a technical term, meh.

The latest:  Employment was flat over the 12 months through January, newly revised Labor Department data show. Construction and retail were down — not a surprise — but professional services and information also took a hit. Those are newer cracks in what’s supposed to be the state’s white-collar foundation. Hiring gains came mostly in health care and private education — our prized “eds and meds.” The leisure and hospitality sector, along with state and local government, also offset declines elsewhere.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent from 3.7 percent a year earlier. The number of people collecting benefits was the highest since February 2023.

Why it matters:  Job losses across a swath of industries underscore the state’s vulnerability as President Trump’s second-term economic agenda shapes up to be a stress test we’re not ready for.

The scary part was "President Trump’s second-term economic agenda shapes up to be a stress test we’re not ready for."  In the author's words, we are an economy based on "eds and meds".  For us it is made worse by the DOGE effort trying to eliminate excessive overhead costs related to research funding.♠ 

The President wants to return jobs to middle Americans.  That would be jobs that were exported to cheaper production nations over the last few decades.  Nike Shoes would be a good example.  See this article from Think Spot, "Why Wall Street Was Bound To Hate Trump's Tariffs".

Trump wants to turbocharge manufacturing by expanding tariffs on imported goods, while slashing what his team calls “government and government-adjacent” spending — a catch-all that includes anything he hates.

We do have to reduce Fedeeral spending.  We can not sustain a Federal Government debt of $36.711 Trillion, and growing.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The author also mentions the Trump Administration is yanking funding as part of "cracking down on antisemitism," like fighting antisemitism is a bad thing.