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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Economic Currents: The State Of The State Economy, Alan Clayton-Matthews
Economic Currents: The State Of The State Economy, Alan Clayton-Matthews
Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series
While the Federal Reserve Board can be “patient” in raising interest rates—“patient” is their descriptive term for their outlook on interest-rate policy—workers have had to be patient in waiting for jobs to return. The past year has exhibited a dichotomy between the product and the labor markets. While GDP, manufacturing output, corporate profits, and stock prices have soared, labor markets have languished. By some measures, this dichotomy has been even more pronounced in Massachusetts. The Bloomberg stock index for Massachusetts, for example, outperformed the national NASDAQ, Dow Jones, and S&P 500 indexes, even while employment continued to decline. The relative …
Economic Currents: The State Of The State Economy, Alan Clayton-Matthews
Economic Currents: The State Of The State Economy, Alan Clayton-Matthews
Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series
Business is looking up in Massachusetts: Buoyed by the state’s high-technology industry, sales, profits, and exports are all showing growth. Housing starts and consumer spending also grew strongly in the second quarter. Employment rates and the jobs market are another story: Growth of employment in Massachusetts has lagged that of the nation, and only began to pick up early in 2004, whereas the nation’s job turnaround began last summer. Nonetheless, consumer confidence remains strong, as the wages and salaries of those who are employed are rising. If this recovery mimics the last cycle of this kind, job growth will accelerate …