Jobs increase along with sales
Improving sales helped several top Massachusetts employers boost worldwide employment in 2004, while others slashed payrolls in a tepid economy.
Employment in Massachusetts increased by 0.7 percent last year compared with 1.7 percent for the nation as a whole, said Walter Marshall, regional economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Despite sluggish growth, Massachusetts employers added 22,000 jobs, ending a 2003 cost-cutting streak that resulted in 30,600 job losses.
''Of the new jobs, 12,000 were in professional and business services," Marshall said. ''Within that sector, temporary help added a significant number of jobs, which is usually an indicator of future economic growth. There was also growth in the number of accounting, management consulting, and engineering jobs."
Massachusetts also lost 3,000 jobs, with the state's telecommunications cluster accounting for a significant share. The 3.5 percent drop in telecommunications employment last year compared with a national decline of 0.8 percent, said Marshall, reflecting layoffs at companies including Enterasys Networks Inc. of Andover and 3Com Corp. of Marlborough.
Nonetheless, some employers eagerly embraced job applicants. TJX Cos. Inc., for example, added 8,000 workers, increasing worldwide staff to 113,000. Sales grew 12 percent last year for TJX, the state's largest employer and owner of the T.J. Maxx and Marshall's store chains. The Framingham retailer opened 162 stores in the United States and abroad.
The big retailer was not the only company with notable job gains. Waltham-based Raytheon Co. added 1,117 workers in 2004, increasing to 79,400.
''We continue to have a growing government contract base that requires additional software and electrical engineering talent related to missile defense" and the construction of a new fleet of destroyers for the Navy, spokesman James Fetig said.
Jobs also grew in the state's booming medical devices field. ''Many companies are reaching a certain level of maturity where they are going from research to manufacturing" and hiring production staff, said Thomas Sommer, president of the 335-company Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council.
Boston Scientific Corp. of Natick, which tops today's Globe 100 after a year of rapid sales and profit growth, grew to 1,997 employees in Massachusetts, up from 1,701 the year before. Much of the job growth came from demand for its new stents for cardiac patients that emit drugs that help keep blood flowing properly. Worldwide, the company employed 17,500 people, up 17 percent from 2003, according to Paul Donovan, senior vice president of corporate communications.
But while some sectors increased hiring, others shed jobs as they reorganized their businesses. Thermo Electron Corp. divested a division that makes optical lasers, resulting in about 1,000 West Coast layoffs.
''We are primarily an analytical instruments company and it was not a core business for us," said Timothy Corcoran, vice president of investor relations. He said the company acquired companies in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, France, and Germany, resulting in a 15 percent boost in sales.
And sluggish sales at Friendly Ice Cream Corp.'s restaurants and competition from supermarket freezer sections led the Wilbraham company to drop to 14,500 employees last year from 16,000.
Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.
