Let’s hope it’s an omen for Sunday’s Super Bowl: The nation’s jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent last month, after employers created a net 243,000 jobs. It’s the biggest monthly increase in nine months.
The latest numbers bode well for Massachusetts, which will release its latest jobs stats in a few weeks. More than likely, it [...]

The latest S&P/Case-Shiller Index is in. Don’t hold your breath. It showed continued housing price declines in November, including in the Boston area.
The bottom line: U.S. prices fell an additional 3.7 percent in November compared to the year before, higher than what most economists had expected.
Here’s one hoot: Detroit actually saw an increase in [...]

Paul Samuelson says it’s somewhat understandable why the Federal Reserve last decade missed all the signs pointing toward an eventual housing crisis: There was no long-term perspective.
By that, Sameulson means there hadn’t been a full-blown financial crisis in the U.S. since the Great Depression, and so Fed officials just couldn’t see a crisis coming because [...]

Here’s an impressive chart showing that metropolitan Boston, on a per capita basis, is the ninth wealthiest city in the world. There are six U.S. cities in the top 10. Washington, San Jose and San Francisco are three of the other five. You’ll be hard pressed to guess the other two — one of which [...]

The state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent last month, providing yet more proof that the Bay State economy is performing considerably better than the national economy.
But there is one confusing bit of news: A separate study shows a net decline in the number of payroll jobs last month. You might be thinking: How can [...]

Massachusetts retailers have gotten some unexpected post-Christmas good cheer: Holiday season shopping was locally very strong, according to new data.
It’s another sign that the Bay State economy is recovering rather well, with the exception being the housing market.

News flash: Boston is listed as one of the least miserable cities in the U.S. when it comes to economic performance.
But you do have to question the validity of any survey that lists Buffalo, N.Y. ahead of most other American cities, whether they’e miserable or non-miserbable.
Here’s the most miserable list.
File under: Les Miserables, ou [...]

Now here’s good news: The state’s unemployment rate last month fell to 7 percent, down from 7.3 percent and far below the national average of 8.6 percent.
The number of jobs created last month wasn’t spectacular. Only 5,000 new jobs were added to local payrolls. There’s also a lot of flux in the total labor-market stats, [...]

The next time you get down about the sometimes dysfunctional ways of Massachusetts, always remember: There are even more dysfunctional states in America.
It’s simply hard to beat Illinois and California in this category. Not to mention Rhode Island and Louisiana.

Some good news on the U.S. jobs front: The unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent, its lowest level since early 2009, and employers added about 120,000 new jobs to payrolls. But … wait … it’s all doom and gloom according to the NYT article linked above.
Okay, the numbers aren’t spectacular. The economy needs about [...]