Watching Mass. Crumble ("it feels so desolate out there.") [View All]

[donsu]

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2003/10/30/analysis_paints_harsher_picture_of_mass_joblessness/

Analysis paints harsher picture of Mass. joblessness

Massachusetts suffered a greater rate of permanent job losses in the recent recession and its workers are suffering longer periods of joblessness than the nation as a whole, according to a new analysis of the state's battered employment market.

Despite signs of an economic recovery, the state's job market remains exceedingly weak, with one in nine Massachusetts workers unemployed, underemployed, or no longer looking for work, according to the study by Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies. The study paints a bleaker picture of the Massachusetts economy than the state's jobless rate, a historically modest 5.7 percent in September, would otherwise indicate.

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The number of unemployed that continue to be counted by statisticians has grown even faster, by 140 percent since 2000, while underemployed, as measured by those having to work part time to get by, is up nearly 50 percent. All told, about 11 percent of Massachusetts workers are unable to find enough -- or any -- work. Despite the fact that the state unemployment rate remains four-tenths of a point below the national rate, Sum said, "it feels so desolate out there."
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