Revised Bay State data shows job growth in 2011

NEW MASSACHUSETTS payroll employment data shows job growth of 1.2 percent between December 2010 and December 2011, compared with the 0.3 percent growth originally reported. For a larger version of this graph, click <a href=HERE. / COURTESY MASSBENCHMARKS" title="NEW MASSACHUSETTS payroll employment data shows job growth of 1.2 percent between December 2010 and December 2011, compared with the 0.3 percent growth originally reported. For a larger version of this graph, click HERE. / COURTESY MASSBENCHMARKS"/>
NEW MASSACHUSETTS payroll employment data shows job growth of 1.2 percent between December 2010 and December 2011, compared with the 0.3 percent growth originally reported. For a larger version of this graph, click HERE. / COURTESY MASSBENCHMARKS

BOSTON – Due to an analysis of new Massachusetts payroll employment data, MassBenchmarks estimates that the Bay State saw job growth of 1.2 percent between December 2010 and December 2011, compared with the 0.3 percent growth originally reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

MassBenchmarks – a journal published by the University of Massachusetts’ Donahue Institute’s Economic and Public Policy Research – estimates the number of seasonally adjusted payroll jobs in the Bay State in December 2011 as 3.24 million, 30,000 more than the official payroll job count of 3.21 million.

According to the report, the new estimates provide the first preview of what will be the ultimate updates for 2011 data, which will be released in March 2013 after the BLS performs its annual benchmark revisions.

The revised payroll employment data represents a census of Bay State employers that are participants in the state’s unemployment insurance program.

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In the revised data, the largest difference in employment was in educational services, which appears to have added 9,000 more jobs, and construction, which added 7,000 more jobs between December 2010 and December 2011.

Manufacturing saw the biggest downward revision in Massachusetts employment, with a loss of 4,500 jobs between December 2010 and December 2011.

Based on the revised data, MassBenchmarks said construction had the fastest rate of job growth in 2011, with a 4.6 percent increase.

“The rebound in construction employment is welcome given how hard hit this sector has been in recent years,” MassBenchmarks senior contributing editor Alan Clayton-Matthews said in prepared remarks, adding that the sector has a long way to go before it recovers to pre-recession levels.
“Construction employment in Massachusetts remains well below its level in December 2007,” said Clayton-Matthews.

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