Category: Economy

Report: Massachusetts One of Top ‘Middle Market’ States

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The Middle Market Power Index from American Express and Dun & Bradstreet reports that Massachusetts has 3,963 middle market companies with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion. This translates to just a bit over one-percent of all businesses in the Commonwealth. According to the report, this ranks fourth in the country in terms of percentage of middle market businesses. (Illinois had the highest percentage of middle market companies, followed by Wisconsin and New Jersey.)

The report’s numbers and findings come from Dun & Bradstreet’s proprietary databases of commercial businesses operating in the U.S.

The percentage of middle market businesses in the Bay State was also more than 30% higher than the national average. Nationwide, there were more than 136,000 middle market firms, making up about 0.7 percent of all businesses.

The report showed that Massachusetts can also boast about having almost double the average national percentage of large businesses with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion. The state has 84 such businesses, making up about 0.02 of all the state’s businesses. In the U.S. as a whole, the percentage of large businesses was only about 0.012 percent.

The overwhelming number of businesses in the United States are considered small, with annual revenues of less than $10 million. Nationally, small businesses make up 99.27 percent of all businesses. Given the numbers cited above, it should come as no surprise that, in Massachusetts, that percentage was a bit smaller, with only 98.97 percent of the state’s total number of businesses classified as small. According to the report, the total number of small businesses in the state numbered 390,760.

Nationally, middle market firms employ an average of 368 workers and generate an average of $45.1 million in revenue per firm per year. While the middle market makes up only 0.7 percent of all businesses nationwide, such businesses contribute slightly more than one in five dollars of all business revenues and employ about 28 percent of all private sector workers. Unfortunately, the report did not offer similar information for Massachusetts or any other state.

 

Some MA Business Owners Urging Delay of Sick Time Law

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In November of 2014, by a margin of 19 percent, voters in Massachusetts clearly expressed their wishes that a statewide provision be implemented requiring all employers to offer sick time. Every employer in the state will soon be required to offer either paid or unpaid sick time, depending on their number of employees. In each case, employees will be required to accrue the time with their hours worked, one hour for every thirty. This sick time is to be available to all employees, whether full or part-time.

The regulations are expected to be issued by the Attorney General’s office in mid- June and the law is set to go into effect this July. However, some employers are concerned, saying that the compressed time frame simply doesn’t allow businesses enough time between that publication date and the implementation of the earned sick time law. This is the primary complaint being voiced by most businesses. Without those regulations in place for use as a guideline, they say, businesses will be unlikely to be able to fully comply with the new law quickly enough. There are also concerns about businesses modifying existing sick time policies to match up with the new regulations, particularly given that most are likely in the middle of their fiscal year. Representatives from both camps are now asking that the date for implementation be pushed back to January of 2016

On the other side of the argument are proponents of the new law, like Raise Up Massachusetts, who want the law to go into effect as it was originally intended – on the very same timeline chosen by voters. They claim that the people have shown that they want this law and that this matters more than any difficulties businesses may face as a consequence of implementing the new law.

 

Massachusetts’ Unemployment Rate Lowest In 7 Years

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The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD) announced Thursday that Massachusetts unemployment fell from 4.9% in February to 4.8% in March. This is the lowest unemployment figure since February of 2008. The “Great Recession” drove Massachusetts’ unemployment to a high of 5.9% in March 2014.

The labor force participation rate, as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is “the percentage of the population [16 years and older] that is either employed or unemployed (that is, either working or actively seeking work).” This number increased 0.3% to 66.2% in February, its highest point since June of 2010 and up a full percentage point from March 2014.

The Massachusetts’ economy added 60,200 jobs; 49,400 of which were private sector since March 2014. The EOLWD reports that the private sector added 10,700 jobs in March. The most significant gains were 1,400 jobs in manufacturing, 4,900 in hospitality and leisure, and 5,500 in education and health providing services.

The National Association of Business Economics (NABE) projects continued economic growth for the duration of 2015 and into 2016. The outlook expects the United States’ GDP to grow by 3.1% through 2015 and 2.9% in 2016. Predicted increases are derived from data linked to government spending, housing investment, and consumer spending. Recent trends in labor market strengthening are expected to continue, adding more jobs to the Massachusetts’ economy.