From the Boston Globe:
Massachusetts shed more than 9,000 jobs that month (September), the most since April. Other data, such as plunging state tax collections, also suggested the economy was weakening. Meanwhile, Massachusetts wasn’t getting much of a boost from stimulus programs such as “cash for clunkers,’’ which offered owners of old cars and trucks cash toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle, because of its minuscule automobile sector.
As a result, it now appears the state will lag behind the national rebound by three or four months, according to a recent forecast by the New England Economic Partnership, a nonprofit research group.
The US economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the quarter ended Sept. 30, while the state economy shrank at a 1.1 percent rate, according to reports from the US Commerce Department and University of Massachusetts.
