View as a webpage | Wednesday, July 30, 2014 | |||||||||
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Massachusetts real gross domestic product grew at an estimated annual rate of 4.9 percent in the second quarter of 2014 according to the MassBenchmarks Current Economic Index, released today by MassBenchmarks, the journal of the Massachusetts economy published by the UMass Donahue Institute in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. In contrast, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, national real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 4.0 percent in the second quarter based on the advance estimate of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Massachusetts payroll employment grew at a 1.7 percent annual rate in the second quarter, up from 1.2 percent in the first quarter; while U.S. payroll employment grew at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter up from 1.5 percent in the first quarter. During the second quarter, the unemployment rate in Massachusetts fell from 6.3 percent (in March) to 5.5 percent (in June), while the U.S. unemployment rate fell from 6.7 percent to 6.1 percent during the same period. Year to date (through June), the state's unemployment rate has fallen 1.6 percentage points while the national unemployment rate has fallen 0.6 percentage points. Wage and salary income declined at an 11.6 percent annual rate in the first quarter, as estimated from state withholding taxes. This does not necessarily imply a drop in regular earnings but rather it likely reflects the strong wage and salary income growth over the previous two quarters (12 to 15 percent) due to bonuses and other non-regular lump-sum wage payments. Year over year (between second quarter 2013 and second quarter 2014), total wage and salary income was up 3.4 percent. Consumer spending in Massachusetts continued to grow strongly in the second quarter. Spending on items subject to the state's regular sales and motor vehicles sales taxes — a good proxy for consumer discretionary spending — grew at an annual rate of 7.4 percent in the second quarter, up from a 6.1 percent rate in the first quarter. By this measure, year over year (second quarter 2013 to second quarter 2014) spending on these taxable items in the Bay State has grown 7.0 percent. The MassBenchmarks Leading Economic Index for June was 3.8 percent, and the three-month average for April through June was 4.0 percent. The leading index is a forecast of the growth in the current index over the next six months, expressed at an annual rate. Thus, it indicates that the economy is expected to grow at an annualized rate of 3.8 percent over the next six months (through December 2014). For a full breakdown of the latest indexes, click here. A comprehensive analysis of the state of the Massachusetts economy can be found in the most recent issue of MassBenchmarks. For more information please contact:
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For timely and comprehensive analysis of the Massachusetts economy, please visit MassBenchmarks at www.massbenchmarks.org |