Category: Employment

Central Mass Adds 5K New Jobs

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The latest state employment report contained some good news for Central Massachusetts, which posted some of the highest annual job gains in the state.

The employment numbers showed the Worcester metropolitan area, essentially southern Worcester County, added an estimated 5,800 jobs from April 2014 to April 2015. The 2.1% increase was among the largest annual gains among the 15 areas of Massachusetts for which regional employment data is published.

Elsewhere in Central Massachusetts, the statistical area including Fitchburg, Leominster, and Gardner added 1,300 jobs during the last year, resulting in a 2.7% increase.

The Framingham area added 3,200 jobs, or 1%, according to the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development figures.

Not surprisingly, the more populous Boston-Cambridge area picked up the largest number of new jobs with 44,000 positions added during the period covered. But, the Boston area’s increase trailed Central Massachusetts on a percentage basis, working out to only a 1.7% jump in jobs.

The state employment numbers are not adjusted for seasonal variations in hiring patterns.

In separate figures tracking monthly employment changes from March to April this year, state officials reported Massachusetts gained 10,100 jobs. The monthly increase represented the eighth consecutive month of job gains in Massachusetts.

The resulting unemployment rate for April of 4.7% was the lowest it has been in Massachusetts in more than seven years.

From March to April, Central Massachusetts as a whole added nearly 6,000 new jobs, with Worcester accounting for the largest share of the total with 2,700 new jobs. With the bump in employment, Worcester’s jobless rate stands at 3.3%, down from 4.4% in April 2014.

Breathing Room for Some with Implementation of New Sick Time Law

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Massachusetts employers scrambling to overhaul their paid sick time policies ahead of new state regulations will get more time, but only if they already offer some kind of paid time off.

The sick time reform law, passed by state voters in a ballot initiative last year, is scheduled to take effect on July 1. The changes will extend sick time to roughly one million workers who currently don’t qualify for any sick time, paid or unpaid.

Amid grumbling from industry groups that the fast-approaching deadline simply doesn’t give businesses enough time to comply, state regulators have agreed to a “safe harbor” provision that will push back the deadline to the end of the year for businesses with existing policies providing for paid time off.

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Under the provision, employers would be considered in compliance with the sick time law if they had a policy in place as of May 1 that allowed at least 30 hours of paid time off this year, according to a statement from Attorney General Maura Healey’s office.

The legislature has blocked several efforts to completely postpone implementation of the sick time law, which entitles all workers in the state to at least earn and use unpaid sick time.

Workers at companies or nonprofits with eleven or more employees can earn and use up to 40 hours of paid sick time per calendar year, while workers at smaller employers can earn and use up to 40 hours of unpaid sick time per calendar year, under the provisions of the ballot law.

In a statement, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said the tweak to the implementation schedule was needed to ensure organizations that already offer earned sick time have ample time to adjust their existing systems without facing any legal penalty. Employers that currently don’t offer any paid time off must still comply with the new law by July 1.

To qualify for the extension, a company’s existing paid time off must be “job protected” leave, subject to the ballot law’s bans on retaliation against employees who use sick time.

“The provision represents a reasonable compromise that will allow employers already offering sick leave some breathing room to implement the new law,” said Richard Lord, president of the trade group Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

Hologic plans to move HQ to Marlborough

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Marlborough is about to become home to another life sciences company. Bedford-based Hologic Inc. plans to move its headquarters to the city. The relocation would add 150 employees to the 450 who currently work at two Hologic offices in Marlborough.

Hologic, a manufacturer of a variety of testing and diagnostic equipment, has asked the City Council to extend a tax-increment financing, or TIF, agreement for five years through the city’s 2020 fiscal year. The company’s current TIF took effect in July 2007 and is scheduled to expire at the end of June, the close of the city’s 2015 fiscal year.

“Hologic’s interest in expanding their operations in Marlborough is an affirmation of Marlborough’s continued economic growth,” said Mayor Arthur Vigeant in a letter to the council. According to Mayor Vigeant, Hologic is making the move to benefit from Marlborough’s location and the area’s “well educated workforce with a high degree of knowledge within the life sciences sector.”

The agreement between Vigeant’s administration and Hologic comes amid the city’s preparations to welcome GE Healthcare Life Sciences. The division of General Electric announced last year it would move its headquarters from New Jersey to Marlborough. The addition of a GE division within city limits is expected to add more than 200 jobs to the approximately 300 already slated to move into a new headquarters on Forest Street.

Hologic said that under the current agreement with the city, it expects to generate 150 new jobs within two years. The company plans to fill those positions by drawing from qualified residents of the city and surrounding communities.

The company has an annual revenue of about $2.6 billion. In its most recent quarterly statement, the company reported a 5 percent gain in revenue with net profits of $47.8 million. Hologic’s tax deal with the city is expected to save the company approximately 10 percent, or nearly $200,000, over the next five years on its estimated obligation of $1.93 million.

Top CEO Salaries in Massachusetts

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A current hot topic in the media is the growing gap between CEO and average workers’ salaries. In Massachusetts, the average CEO made 97 times the average worker’s salary. This data comes from “Executive Paywatch: High Paid CEOs and the Low Wage Economy,” published by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). The study notes that runaway CEO salaries are fueling economic inequality, highlighted by findings that the average worker in Massachusetts made less than $50,000 a year in 2013 compared to the average CEO, who made almost $5 million in that same period.

National statistics show that the average CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 2013 was 331 to 1, and the CEO-to-minimum-wage-worker pay ratio was 771 to 1. Massachusetts has six CEOs on the AFL-CIO’s Top 100 CEO Pay list. The top paid CEO in Massachusetts was Hari Ravichandran of Endurance International Group Holdings. His total compensation in 2013 amounted to over $52 million, which is 1490 times the average American worker’s pay. The second highest paid CEO was Trip Advisor‘s Stephen Kaufer. He received almost $40 million in 2013, 1107 times the average American worker’s pay.

The AFL-CIO report opined that the current ratio of CEO-to-worker pay is simply unconscionable. However, not everybody agrees. Mike Stenhouse is the head of the think tank Center for Freedom and Prosperity. Stenhouse commented that wage disparities naturally increase in a depressed economy. This is because there is a decreased amount of middle-class jobs available, which lowers the average income for all. Therefore, free-market CEO compensation should be of no concern to taxpayers.

The AFL-CIO actively supports raising the federal minimum wage to over $10/hour, claiming it offers a simple way to repair the weak economy, boost consumer spending, and increase the purchasing power of low-wage workers. Nevertheless, critics still feel that raising the minimum wage will only force businesses to either raise prices, lay-off workers, reduce hours, or use more automation.

The following is a list of the Top CEO Salaries in Massachusetts:
#50. Nigel Travis – Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc., Canton: $4,206,643
#49. Michael R. Minogue – Abiomed Inc., Danvers: $4,606,673
#48. Michael A. Bradley – Teradyne, Inc., North Reading: $4,845,964
#47. P. James Debney – Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., Springfield: $4,873,237
#46. Peter R. Chase – Chase Corp., Bridgewater, MA: $4,891,223
#45. Scott A. Buckhout – Circor International Inc., Burlington: $5,008,416
#44. Michael K. Simon – Logmein, Inc., Boston: $5,138,234
#43. Louis Hernandez, Jr. – Avid Technology, Inc., Burlington: $5,229,014
#42. Linda K. Zecher – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co., Boston: $5,236,252
#41. Frederick H. Eppinger – Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., Worcester: $5,237,208
#40. Josef H. Von Rickenbach – Parexel International Corp, Waltham: $5,519,080
#39. David Aldrich – Skyworks Solutions, Inc., Woburn: $5,800,648
#38. Harvey J. Berger, M.D. – Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge: $5,872,437
#37. Brian Concannon – Haemonetics Corp., Braintree: $5,977,595
#36. Vincent T. Roche – Analog Devices Inc., Norwood: $6,090,567
#35. Mark S. Casady – LPL Financial Holdings Inc., Boston: $6,137,333
#34. John M. Maraganore, Ph.D. – Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge: $6,236,122
#33. Patrick M. Prevost – Cabot Corp., Boston: $6,309,405
#32. James Heppelmann – PTC Inc., Needham: $6,502,968
#31. Robert F. Friel – PerkinElmer Inc., Waltham: $6,511,991
#30. Michael Bonney – Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lexington: $6,606,945
#29. Marc Beer – Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge: $7,036,536
#28. James C. Foster – Charles River Laboratories International Inc., Wilmington: $7,041,418
#27. Alan J. Herrick – Sapient Corp., Boston: $7,154,464
#26. Michael G. Kauffman, M.D., Ph.D. – Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc., Newton: $7,335,194
#25. F. Thomson Leighton – Akamai Technologies, Cambridge: $7,631,578
#24. Thomas J. May – Northeast Utilities, Springfield: $7,660,999
#23. Jonathan Bush – Athenahealth, Inc., Watertown: $8,027,133
#22. Leo Berlinghieri – MKS Instruments, Andover: $8,030,721
#21. Harlan F. Weisman, M.D. – Coronado Biosciences Inc., Burlington: $8,176,551
#20. Ron Zwanziger – Alere Inc., Waltham: $8,176,723
#19. Christopher Garabedian – Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge: $9,701,492
#18. William L. Meaney – Iron Mountain Inc., Boston: $9,766,616
#17. Ronald L. Sargent – Staples Inc., Framingham: $10,767,880
#16. Michael F. Mahoney – Boston Scientific Corp., Marlborough: $10,851,430
#15. James D. Taiclet, Jr. – American Tower Corp., Boston: $12,221,026
#14. Joseph M. Tucci – EMC Corp., Hopkinton: $12,645,957
#13. Jeffrey M. Leiden – Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., Boston: $13,126,474
#12. Philip M. Pead – Progress Software Corp., Bedford: $14,239,235
#11. George A. Scangos – Biogen Idec Inc., Cambridge: $15,015,147
#10. Joseph L. Hooley – State Street Corp., Boston: $15,841,234
#9. Marc N. Casper – Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Waltham: $16,168,880
#8. William H. Swanson – Raytheon Company, Waltham: $17,146,254
#7. Paul A. Ricci – Nuance Communications, Inc., Burlington: $17,939,756
#6. Sean M. Healey – Affiliated Managers Group, Inc., Beverly: $20,007,855
#5. Carol Meyrowitz – TJX Companies Inc., Framingham: $22,514,033
#4. Mortimer B. Zuckerman – Boston Properties Inc., Boston: $23,821,829
#3. Stephen P. Macmillan – Hologic, Inc., Bedford: $24,458,289
#2. Stephen Kaufer – Tripadvisor, Inc., Newton: $39,014,227
#1. Hari Ravichandran – Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc., Burlington: $52,518,620

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.