Compared with US, hiring in Mass. has been decent, but brace for a letup

September 11, 2011|By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

The Massachusetts economy has outperformed the US economy this year, adding jobs at more than double the pace of the nation as a whole. That’s the good news.

But local job hunters should prepare for longer searches and cautious hiring as a number of national and international events - from political stalemate in Washington to national debt crises in Europe - contribute to a global economic slowdown and raise the threat of double-dip recession.

“The downside risks certainly outweigh the upside,’’ said Alan Clayton-Matthews, a Northeastern University economics professor. “If the US economy is weak and Europe is weak, Massachusetts can’t continue to grow much faster.’’

Boosted by its technology sector, the Massachusetts economy has expanded at a much faster rate than the US economy, quadrupling the nation’s pace of growth in the second quarter, according to the University of Massachusetts. Job growth has been stronger here, too.

In the first seven months of the year, the state’s employers have added more than 50,000 jobs, an increase of nearly 2 percent, according to the US Labor Department. Nationally, employment grew less than 1 percent during the same period.

The state’s unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in July, compared with 9.1 percent nationally.

Massachusetts has a high concentration of companies that sell technology equipment, components, and services, which have benefited from strong global demand for these products and services. As a result, tech sectors have driven job growth in the state.

Employment in information services, which includes software, Internet services, telecommunications, and data processing firms, grew 5 percent over the past year, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Jobs in the state’s professional, scientific, and technical services sector - which includes a variety of technology, research, and consulting firms - grew 4 percent during the same period.

Manufacturing employment, led by makers of tech equipment, grew by more than 2 percent.

Other key sectors have also experienced solid growth. Health care employment grew 3 percent over the year; real estate jobs by 3.5 percent; and construction by 2 percent. Employment in the food services and accommodations industry grew 3.6 percent.

Andre Mayer, senior vice president of research at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a trade group, said Massachusetts has weathered the difficult economic times better because its key industries depend more on business spending and less on consumers than those of other states.

“We don’t do a lot of home building, we don’t build cars, we didn’t get hit by the worst of it,’’ he said. “But there are some concerns going forward.’’