March 13, 2008 1:07 PM

Tech jobs hot, union membership not
Posted by Jesse Nunesat 1:07 PM

There are a few stories today that focus on trends in the Massachusetts job market. First, the Globe's Robert Weisman reports that although many employers continue to lay off workers as the economy falters, many high-tech companies in the Bay State are seeing a boom in hiring. One such company is Seachange International Inc., which is headquartered in Acton. The company, which makes video-on-demand software and hardware, has hired almost 80 workers worldwide in the past three months, and still has 75 openings, including 30 in the Acton office.

"It's a very competitive job market for software engineers," said Laura Watson, the SeaChange senior director of human resources. "Most of the people who come in here have offers in a few days."

SeaChange's hiring spree is typical of a class of high-tech businesses in Massachusetts that have proved virtually immune to the economic slowdown. These companies sell into global markets that provide a cushion as the US economy struggles with everything from mounting home foreclosures to a plummeting stock market.

The article also points out that Massachusetts gained about 8,400 jobs in professional, scientific, and technical services last year, a 3.4 percent increase, and also added 2,100 jobs in scientific research and development, and 800 in the information sector, which includes software publishing. But the numbers weren't good for other industries, such as manufacturing and construction.

At the same time, Massachusetts lost 2,600 jobs in manufacturing and 3,300 in construction, many of them tied to the slumping housing and building industries, according to figures from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. A survey by the Federal Reserve, released last week, indicated the supply of skilled labor remains tight in New England, especially in such fields as technology, engineering, finance, and biopharmaceuticals.

One thing that has accompanied the decline in manufacturing and construction jobs has been a smaller percentage of Massachusetts workers who belong to unions. The Globe's Nicole Wong reports:

The number of workers in the Commonwealth who belonged to a union declined last year by 35,000 to hit a 19-year-low of 379,000, according to data released yesterday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Meanwhile, union membership nationwide was relatively flat, rising by 311,000 workers to nearly 15.7 million.

The percentage of Massachusetts workers who are in unions - a more important measure because it adjusts for a state's job losses or gains - fell to 13.2 percent of the state's workers, down from 14.5 percent in 2006.

Although the union membership numbers for Massachusetts are the lowest since the government began collecting such data in 1989, the Bay State is still ahead of more than three-quarters of the states in the US. The national average for union membership is 12.1 percent.

Finally, the Globe's Maria Sacchetti reports that Governor Deval Patrick has set his sights on Bay State business owners who pay workers in cash, thus skirting paying some taxes and other costs associated with having on-the-books employees.

Union leaders, business owners, and others say they are being squeezed out of the market by companies that skirt the law, including hiring illegal immigrants. Such abuses are common in the building industry, critics say.

....

"It's happening all across the economy, from pizza shop owners to transportation companies," said Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Suzanne Bump, who added that the initiative is modeled after similar efforts in California and New York. "It's just everywhere."

Advocates for immigrants raised concerns that the plan could backfire against immigrant workers, whether they are here legally or not. Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said that increasing enforcement without protecting workers' rights would only make workers more vulnerable.

"We want to make sure that this is not used to target or profile any one worker," Noorani said yesterday. "If this order furthers the rights and protections of all workers, then we are going to stand with the governor to make sure it's fully implemented."