Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce chief Jim Rooney are cruising toward another political fight that could strain their sometimes-friendly, sometimes-cool relationship. Over the course of the past week, Wu came out in support of a rent control ballot question, while Rooney’s organization joined the real estate-led campaign seeking to defeat the measure.
Economy
Posted inEconomy
Sharp decline in immigration slows Mass. population growth
Like the rest of the country, Massachusetts experienced a significant decline in immigration from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, spotlighting the significant role that foreign-born workers play in the state’s economy.
Posted inThe Codcast
A showdown over Boston property tax rates
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Greg Maynard, executive director of the Boston Policy Institute, as Boston the city council prepares for a Wednesday vote expected to raise taxes on single-family homes. Maynard says the administration is not moving quickly enough to inform the public about dire revenue forecasts or adopt new measures which could make up the difference.
Posted inEconomy
Survey: Mass. business confidence stuck in longest rut since pandemic
Federal policy changes and high costs within Massachusetts continue to squeeze businesses, and by one metric, Bay State employers have not felt this negative about the economic outlook since the first year of the COVID pandemic.
Posted inThe Codcast
The profit and price of October in Salem
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Hallie Claflin talks with Dominick Pangallo, Mayor of Salem. Every year in October, Salem experiences a massive tourism boom as more than a million visitors flock to the site of the Salem Witch Trials for the spooky season. How does a small city of 45,000 manage the influx of tourists? How do Salem residents feel about the influx? And how lucrative is the tourism industry? Pangallo addresses these and encourages all to explore the great things Salem has to offer all year round.
Posted inThe Codcast
Shutdown squeeze ups the odds of a Mass. recession
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Mark Williams, finance lecturer at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. Now two weeks into the federal shutdown, Williams reviews an already bleak estimate of Massachusetts’s financial health if officials continue on their current spending path. Facing federal cuts, immigration policy changes, and the knock-on effects of the shutdown, Williams warns that the Bay State could be heading for a recession within a year.
Posted inEconomy
‘No margin for error’: State economic check-in spotlights tricky balancing act
With the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and a state economic lag colliding, Massachusetts budget-writers weigh options to balance the outlook.
Posted inEconomy
AG Campbell: Medical research change could ‘undermine our economy’
Attorney General Andrea Campbell and nearly two dozen of her peers sued the Trump administration and federal health care agencies Monday, alleging that they unlawfully moved to cut crucial federal dollars for research.
Posted inOpinion
Why Massachusetts struggles in startup competition
LAST WEEK, the federal government announced that Cambridge will be one of three hubs for ARPA-H, a new research funding agency for the health care sector. This is great news […]
Posted inHealth Care
House OKs pay range disclosure bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS Legislature unanimously passed a law in 2016 to address the yawning gap between the wages paid to men and women doing the same work, […]
Posted inOpinion
Rein in the power of Visa, Mastercard
AS MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS face higher and higher costs of living and stubbornly high prices for gas, food, beverages, and other staple items, a bi-partisan coalition of senators is looking to […]
Posted inEconomy
Unemployment rate hits lowest monthly level since 1976
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE MASSACHUSETTS ECONOMY continues to hum along in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption, a trend that business leaders and analysts say could forecast more […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion
Here’s how to get people back to work, off unemployment faster
IT IS PROBABLY too early for Gov. Maura Healey to be thinking about her legacy, but we have a suggestion for how she could make her mark on Massachusetts. The […]
Posted inEconomy
A race to keep up – or to the bottom?
MARCH WAS “Problem Gambling Awareness Month” in Massachusetts, but for those in charge of the state lottery the gambling problem coming into the new year was that people weren’t doing […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass. economic growth slows, projected to go negative
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS SQUEAKED OUT a smidgen of economic growth in the first quarter of 2023, slowing substantially from its late 2022 growth rate, and analysts are predicting […]
Posted inOpinion
Unions are answer to state’s labor shortage
MASSACHUSETTS HAS a crisis on its hands. The Commonwealth faces an alarming labor shortage, with fewer people participating in the workforce and more of the Commonwealth’s residents choosing to move […]
Posted inOpinion
Industrial land disappearing at an alarming pace
A STRONG INDUSTRIAL sector can help maintain the middle class, provide stable wages in a tumultuous economy, and seed technological innovations that attract workers and businesses to our region – […]
Posted inOpinion
Here’s how we define competitiveness
IN RECENT WEEKS, leading business groups in Massachusetts have urged newly-elected Gov. Maura Healey to focus on the state’s economic competitiveness. As current or former leaders of organizations that employ […]
Posted inOpinion
Breaking the cycle of poverty with affordable housing
DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH, we paused as a nation to reflect on and honor the role Black Americans have had in our country’s history. While this is essential, it is equally […]
Posted inEconomy
Women have gone missing from the workforce
AS MASSACHUSETTS employers struggle to attract and retain workers, it’s worth remembering that experienced talent already exists here in the Commonwealth among the tens of thousands of caregivers who have […]
Posted inEconomy
Mass. employment nears pre-pandemic levels
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MASSACHUSETTS EMPLOYERS added 17,300 jobs in November, labor officials announced Friday, putting the state within striking distance of returning to a pre-pandemic level of employment. Last […]
Posted inThe Download
Low birth rates, slow immigration harms state workforce
Almost every industry, from hospitals to restaurants, is struggling to hire in Massachusetts. And while some of this may be due to COVID-related factors that will eventually diminish, a new […]
Posted inEconomy
Low birth rates, slow immigration harms state workforce
ALMOST EVERY INDUSTRY, from hospitals to restaurants, is struggling to hire in Massachusetts. And while some of this may be due to COVID-related factors that will eventually diminish, a new […]
Posted inOpinion
It pays to hire people with disabilities
NOW HIRING! The help wanted signs are everywhere these days, whether it’s the local sandwich shop around the corner or the high-tech Fortune 500 company. Today, there are nearly twice […]