December 14, 2022
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & COMPETITIVENESS

Massachusetts labor shortage driven by aging population, people leaving the state, report says

Gayla Cawley ,

The Boston Herald

The jobs are there in Massachusetts, but nobody seems to want them, says a new report, which shows there are twice as many job openings as unemployed people in the state.

The report, released Wednesday by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, lays out a grim economic outlook for the state, which is facing a contracting workforce driven by an aging population, declining birth rate and people choosing to move elsewhere at the fourth-highest rate in the country.

“Systemic changes to the economy since the pandemic affecting all sectors, combined with troubling demographic trends, are causing the state’s talent pipeline to contract,” said MTF President Eileen McAnneny.