Please join MTF for our September Member Briefing, which will include a review of two recent Policy Fact Sheets on the structure and financing of the unemployment insurance system, a summary of the policy actions taken to address the demand for benefits during the pandemic, and the…

LOOK CLOSELY at how Massachusetts is growing, and a pattern emerges. It’s visible in the families opening small businesses in places like Lawrence and Springfield, in the surge of young workers entering fields like health care, construction, and climate tech, and in the numbers: Nearly 80 percent…

The state’s UI system is still feeling the impact of significant unemployment during the pandemic, which resulted in thousands of additional individuals receiving UI benefits for an extended period. By April 2020, the state’s unemployment had skyrocketed to 17.8 percent, growing more than fivefold…

In spite of unanimous passage by both the House and the Senate, in the final days of the legislative session a compromise economic development bill failed to reach the Governor’s desk. While the two versions of the bill differ significantly on policy proposals, the framework for both bills is the…

And that, according to the Massachusetts Competitiveness Index Report released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, UMass Amherst Donahue Institute and Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, has been our high-wage, high-knowledge industries, stemming from the historically close ties…

Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the data show that both wealthy families and lower-income working class families are leaving the state, while families that land in the middle seem more willing to stay.“The biggest outmigrants are at the top end and the lowest…

The analysis by the Boston-based Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation comes as policymakers on Beacon Hill seek to stem that population loss, and even as agreement on Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s signature economic development bill remains frustratingly out of reach.“There is broad consensus that…

Unlike many competitive rankings, the MTF index tracks a broad set of metrics. The results underscore the sometimes-overlooked fact that Massachusetts’ overall competitive standing is solidly in the middle of the pack.The MTF hopes that its benchmark, to be updated annually, can inform policy…

MTF's 2024 Massachusetts Competitiveness Index Report is designed to put forward a framework to assess how Massachusetts stacks up compared to other states, key economic and geographic competitors, and itself.The report looks at 26 different metrics organized into four critical areas:•Economic…

On March 1st, the Healey-Driscoll administration unveiled their economic development bill, An Act relative to strengthening Massachusetts’ economic leadership, also known as the Mass Leads Act. The House and Senate have now each acted on their own versions of the bill, and a conference committee…