Job losses mount in Bay State: Payrolls shed 9,500 in Feb. as Mass. lags

behind US.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/03/20/job_losses_mount_in_bay_state/

This is Bush's economic recovery. Our state has one of the highest costs of living and outrageous housing prices. I fear there will be a brain drain-people who have benefitted from the Mass. educational system will be forced to move for jobs. :-(

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Massachusetts last month suffered its worst job losses in a year, dealing another blow to predictions -- and hopes -- that the state's battered labor market is poised to rebound.

Bay State employers shed another 9,500 payroll jobs in February and the most since February 2003, when Massachusetts lost a net 16,100 jobs, the state Division of Unemployment Assistance reported yesterday.

The state's jobless rate fell to 5.3 percent from 5.6 percent in January, but the reason for the decline was deceptive: Thousands apparently gave up looking for jobs, so were no longer counted as unemployed.

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Massachusetts has lost nearly 220,000 jobs since payroll employment peaked in February 2001, a decline of about 6.5 percent. The percentage loss is more than triple the US average and the greatest among states, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Talk radio says we are gaining jobs and alot of other places say we are losing jobs. What's the descrepancy? Who's right? and how can I prove we are : )

Bush's own economic team provides the sad statistics. And those are "massaged" to make things seem better than they are. Only 21,000 jobs were created NATIONWIDE in February, and those were GOVERNMENT jobs.

Is anyone in your family unemployed? Do you have friends who are underemployed or afraid their jobs will be outsourced? Are the Help Wanted ads in your local rag shrinking? Are businesses in your community moving jobs overseas? Open your eyes.

Listen to that for an hour and any thinking person knows they are wrong on 90% of what they say. I just wanted to know what stats they are using(I hope they are using stats from somewhere but you never know....) No one in my family is unemployed but my friend that graduated with a masters in computer science has been looking for 4 months and doesn't even have any leads.

the U.S. did indeed create 21,000 new jobs last month ... and every single one of them was a government job ...

isn't it the republicans who are always talking about reducing the size of government ??? the truth is the private sector is not producing jobs ... not in this country anyway ...

and as you study labor statistics, keep in mind that the size of the workforce has been shrinking by hundreds of thousands of workers ... and why is this you probably are wondering ?? it's because there are no jobs to find ... hundreds of thousands have just stopped looking for work ... and they are not counted in the unemployment rate ... bush apologists defend this by saying that these people have never been counted ... they say you have to compare apples to apples ... well, they are right!! you do have to compare apples to apples so perhaps they should not be counted in the unemployment rate ... but you should then count how many have stopped looking under bush to how many have stopped looking in previous administrations ... and therein lies the rub, my friend ...

the number of people who have stopped looking for work is crippling thousands of families and destroying lives all over the country ... it hasn't been this bad in a very, very long time ...

it's also important to understand the political implications of bush's miserable failure to create jobs ... the worst hit states are the swing states in the midwest ... some states have unemployment rates around 15% ... and voters in these states know something that your friends on right-wing talk radio still don't get ... it is time for a change ... bush has got to go ...

How is the business doing that you are in. Gangbusters, fast, slow, dead?

Do you ever notice the expressions, or comments of the people that you pass by from day to day? They don't seem very happy to me.

Unless talk radio, and the TV media, can give valid statiscics to back up their claims (i.e. Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Really) then you are left with pretty much opinion, entertainment and psuedo celebrity titilation. After you digest it all there't not much left in the way of substance. Besides does talk radio ever offer solutions to the problems we face, or do they just complain about the LibRuls and blame it all on us?

Just look at that what is going on and make your own educated descision.

From my point of view things are sucking...not just becasue * is in office but as a direct result of him being in office.

people who have benefitted from the Mass. educational system

advanced math degree? master in computer science? phd in economics?

not good enough !!

try these: dosai ... mumbai ... veda ...

if you thought bush's economy wasn't creating new jobs, think again ... you just need to learn the right language ... btw, some argued that having a republican governor would curry (sorry ...) favor with bush and bring jobs to massachusetts ... yeah, that worked out nicely ...

he just thinks he's hot shit. Finneran and the Dems run the state-he is just under the illusion that he has power.

my state senator, dave magnani, who often seems to have perfected the art of sleepwalking, gave an inspiring speech on the recent gay marriage debate ...

magnani announced this past week that he will not seek re-election ...

there are real concerns that very wealthy repbulicans, supported by romney, may be able to make inroads into the democratic majority in the State House ... we've already lost Cheryl Jacques seat ...

and the really bad part is, I hate the Massachusetts democratic party ... how long must we tolerate the abuse of Finneran and put up with the likes of Bill Bulger and John Silber ...

Massachusetts may be progressive on the national stage but internally the Massachusetts miracle has turned into the Massachusetts mess ... I'm really thinking of joining the Green party for state and local elections ... and before people jump all over me, I do not think Nader should be running and I'm totally supporting Kerry ...

and there is an increasingly conservative bent out in MetroWest. Barney Frank is up for re-election. The guy running against hom is pretty right-wing. Until the Dem party gets some new blood in Mass-as opposed to the corrupt cronies serving on Beacon Hill-I also fear the big Republican money will cut into the Dem majority.

a winning smile. What more does one need to rule the electorate?

Rick Perry eat your heart out!