Worcester Business Journal

10 Worcester Business Journal | February 3, 2020 | wbjournal.com e 2010s were good to Greater Worcester employment, led by eds & meds, but the region's leading industry lost workers Jobs, jobs, jobs Civilian labor force 339,943 361,800 6% 365,788 June 2018 Employment 306,157 352,500 15% 354,222 November 2018 Unemployment 33,786 9,400 -72% 33,786 January 2010 Unemployment rate 9.9 2.6 -74% 9.9 January 2010 Total nonfarm employment in Greater Worcester 258,900 287,300 11% 288,600 February 2018 United States 129,807,000 152,383,000 17% Massachusetts 3,213,300 3,693,600 15% Boston metro 2,427,200 2,811,300 16% January 2010 December 2019 Change Peak Peak date Note: Data starts in January 2010 and ends in December 2019, except for civilian labor force, employment, unemployment and unemployment rate, which are for November. December 2019 data is preliminary; data is not seasonally adjusted except for total nonfarm employment numbers. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Greater Worcester employment in the 2010s BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor T here was nearly one constant across the 2010s in the Greater Worcester workforce: Jobs became more plentiful, in nearly every industry. Education and health services – responsible for one out of every four jobs in the Worcester metropolitan area, higher than even the Boston area – added nearly 13,000 jobs. at pace was multitudes larger than any other industry in the area, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Smaller sectors also gained, including construction, which added 61% more jobs over the decade, and professional and business services, which grew by more than one-tenth. Not every sector had the same success. Manufacturing jobs and financial activities each lost around 1% of their jobs, even as the Worcester metropolitan area's total nonfarm employment grew 11%. BLS defines Greater Worcester as Worcester County and Windham County, Conn. ere's one unequivocal point: e decade closed in a much better spot than it began. January 2010 had an unemployment rate of 9.9%, with nearly 34,000 people out of a job and searching for work. Neither number would be so bad again. Eight strong years and two flat years Employment numbers rose and rose through much of the decade to the point where today employers oen can't find enough qualified workers, those in career services say. "It's obviously a very competitive market for labor and talent," said Jeffrey Turgeon, the executive director of the MassHire Central Region Workforce Board in Worcester. Still, the line of improvement hasn't been continuous. Nonfarm employment – the most common measure of the workforce – peaked in February 2018 and has fallen in 13 of the last 22 months since. Greater Boston, on the other hand, peaked in August 2019 and barely dropped since. Springfield, Brockton, Lowell, New Bedford and other metro areas have continued rising employment. In fact, each of those areas have had steeper employment increases throughout the decade than the Worcester area did. Worcester's recent decline is also a sharp contrast to Massachusetts as a whole, where employment is up nearly 2% over the last two years, or nationally, where it's closer to 3%. At the jobs website ZipRecruiter, labor economist Julia Pollak called the decline in employment in the Worcester area startling. It was surprising enough, she said, that ZipRecruiter's staff, upon reviewing the workforce data, thought business closures were to blame. e drop in the Worcester area, though, appears to be due to a broader decline in demand for workers. "Job growth came to a grinding halt in 2018 and 2019 in Worcester, even as it remained robust in most of the country," Pollak said. Low job-posting volumes could suggest further job loss this year, she said. Job openings in the Boston area could be on the way down, too, at least according to the job site Glassdoor. On Glassdoor, Greater Boston openings have dropped by more than 10% from a peak of more than 160,000 in September. Openings fell almost 1% for the year. Key industry lags No major industry has struggled overall more than manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs not only haven't recovered since the Great Recession, they're a fraction of what they used to be. Greater Worcester had 51,900 manufacturing jobs in April 1990. Since then, the number of such jobs has fallen by nearly half to 27,900. Even from September 2008 – the month the financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and the Great Recession started in earnest – to October 2019, Worcester manufacturing jobs are down 13%. Despite the job losses, manufacturing remains the largest industry in Greater PHOTO/NATHAN FISKE Manufacturing, the largest local industry by economic output, lost jobs in the 2010s despite a strong economy overall. Pictured here is Robbie Allred from Southborough manufacturer Protonex Technology Corp.

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