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38 2015 Economic Forecast www.wbjournal.com Worcester Business Journal Friday, February 13, 2015 Beechwood Hotel, Worcester 7:30 – 10:30AM • Cost: $40, pre-registration required ($50 after Feb. 5) To register or for further agenda updates visit: www.wbjournal.com/economicforecast Please join the Worcester business Journal and the Worcester regional Chamber of Commerce for our annual economic Forecast breakfast event. Produced by in partnership with A forum of what lies ahead for our region in 2015. Save the date! '15 Economist KEynotE: JEff fuhrEr • Jeffrey (Jeff) Fuhrer is Executive Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and is responsible for the Bank's regional and community outreach functions. He is an associate economist of the Federal Open Market Committee. Fuhrer began his career at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, first as a research assistant, and then in 1985 returned as a senior economist after earning his doctorate. He has been active in economic research for more than two decades, and has served as an associate editor for the American Economic Review. Fuhrer has published numerous scholarly papers on the interactions among monetary policy, inflation, consumer spending, and asset prices. Fuhrer earned an A.B. in economics with highest honors from Princeton University, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. Presenting sPonsors 2015 Upward movements in 2014 The job market gained during the year, as did the stock prices of five of the largest public companies in Central Massachusetts. Central Mass. workforce More people were working by October 2014 in the three sub-regions of Central Massachusetts surveyed by the federal government. * includes parts of Connecticut Source: Mass. Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development Leominster-Fitchburg-Gardner 48.4 48.5 48.8 48.4 48.9 49 48.9 48.4 48.9 49 48.8 49.1 49 1.2% Worcester * 248.2 248.4 248.4 249.3 248.9 249.5 249.9 252.3 253.4 255.8 255.8 253.2 255 2.7% Framingham 161.4 161.8 161.9 161.2 162.2 162.4 162.3 162.5 163.3 164.3 164.4 164.8 164.3 1.8% Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Year-over- 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 2014 year gain (numbers of employed workers, in thousands) Hanover Insurance Group (THG) $59.35 $68.22 $69.36 $69.36 16.9% EMC Corp. (EMC) $25.03 $28.105 $28.58 $28.58 13% Staples Inc. (SPLS) $15.90 $17.04 $17.46 $17.29 8.7% Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) $12.02 $12.74 $13.02 $13.02 8.3% TJX Cos. (TJX) $63.36 $64.40 $65.57 $65.36 3.2% Rising stock prices e four largest public companies based in Central Massachusetts all saw healthy gains in their stock prices, with e Hanover Insurance Group of Worcester seeing the largest percentage gain. STARTED CLOSE ON Gain for 2014 AT LOW HIGH DEC. 17 2014 * * - through Dec. 17 Source: Yahoo Finance (numbers of employed workers, in thousands)