Massachusetts is projected to lose 135,000 jobs

Massachusetts has entered a recession that will cost the state about 135,000 jobs before it begins to recover in the second half of 2010, according to an economic forecast released today.

The projected job loss, about 4 percent of the state's payroll employement, will be less than those of the previous two recessions, according to the forecast by the New England Economic Partnership, or NEEP, a nonprofit group focused on providing economic analyses and forecasts.

The state lost 205,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of employment, in the recession that began in 2001, and Massachusetts lost 356,000 jobs, or 11 percent of employment, during the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the forecast said.

NEEP forecasts that unemployment is projected to rise sharply from an average of 5 percent this year to an average of 6.9 percent in 2009 and peaking at an average of 8.1 percent in 2010.

(Just today, the state said unemployment rose to 5.5 percent in October from 5.3 percent in September.)

The Massachusetts economy recently slipped into recession, according to the report.

Economic growth, as measured by the output of goods and services, will resume in the second half of 2009, but the labor market, which lags output, will continue to deteriorate for about another year, the forecast said.
(By Robert Gavin, Globe staff)