Hospitality, Retail Trade, Healthcare Among ‘Most Vulnerable Industries’ in Terms of Unemployment due to COVID-19

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

New Pioneer Institute analysis looks at Massachusetts industries hardest hit by March unemployment claims

BOSTON – Recent data provided by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development show that hospitality, retail trade, healthcare and social assistance, and construction are the industries that have suffered the most unemployment as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the new Pioneer Institute report, A Look at the Massachusetts Industries that Are Most Vulnerable Due to COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 shutdown has obviously affected different parts of the economy differently,” says Executive Director Jim Stergios. “This is the first attempt to quantify the impacts, and this kind of work is the only way to craft solutions for our regional economies as Massachusetts turns its attention to opening up for business again.”

March saw the highest spike in unemployment claims in history, and the trend continued in the first two weeks of April.

While highlighting the four industries hardest hit by the pandemic, the Pioneer study, entitled A Look at the Massachusetts Industries that Are Most Vulnerable Due to COVID-19shows that local economies may be impacted by these trends based on their proportion of area jobs in these ‘vulnerable’ sectors.

In addition to each municipality being affected differently due to the makeup of its local economy, the hardest-hit municipalities also fall into various geographic clusters.

For example, the ten municipalities with the highest percentage of their total jobs in the hospitality super sector, which is made up of accommodation and food services as well as arts, recreation, and entertainment, are all found in either Western Massachusetts or the Cape and Islands. These towns represent economies that are made up of anywhere from 40 to 75 percent of total jobs in Hospitality, and the dire unemployment trends in this sector do not bode well for these communities which may be reliant on this sector.

Another example is the clustering of affected economies by community sub-type, as defined by the Massachusetts Area Planning Council. Towns with the highest percentage of total jobs in construction tend to be classified as more ‘rural’ or ‘developing’ community types, and they may experience more unemployment claims because of the proportion of construction jobs in these areas. Additionally, municipalities within these community sub types may require more consideration with respect to decisions regarding re-opening the economy and essential versus non-essential businesses.

“Boston is considered a hub of healthcare and social assistance, with roughly 20 percent of jobs in Boston in 2018 in this sector,” says Rebekah Paxton, co-author of the report, with Greg Sullivan. “However, there are municipalities with nearly half of their total jobs in healthcare across the state, including Sandisfield, Melrose, and Brookline.”

Interestingly, the retail trade sector jumped in the number of unemployment claims in April, despite being down the list after the initial unemployment data was released for March.

This analysis is important to understand the variety of economic impacts that will affect each municipality in the Commonwealth. While different sectors are experiencing shutdowns, adjustments, and layoffs, the municipalities that will be affected most acutely are those that have high proportions of their local economies within a single sector, and therefore may be reliant on these sectors to emerge from the crisis.

About the Authors

Gregory Sullivan is Pioneer’s Research Director. Prior to joining Pioneer, Sullivan served two five-year terms as Inspector General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and held several positions within that office previously. Sullivan was a 17-year member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving on the committees of Ways and Means, Human Services, and Post-Audit and Oversight. Greg holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a master’s degree in public administration from The Kennedy School of Public Administration at Harvard, and a master’s degree from the Sloan School at M.I.T., with a concentration in finance.

Rebekah Paxton is a Research Analyst at Pioneer Institute. She has worked on various research projects under PioneerPublic and PioneerOpportunity, in areas of state finance, public policy, and labor relations. Currently she works on research using Pioneer’s employment database and the MassEconomix.org project. She earned a Master’s degree in Political Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics, from Boston University, where she graduated summa cum laude.

About Pioneer

Pioneer Institute is an independent, non-partisan, privately funded research organization that seeks to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts through civic discourse and intellectually rigorous, data-driven public policy solutions based on free market principles, individual liberty and responsibility, and the ideal of effective, limited and accountable government.

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Recent Posts

NYT Best Seller Dr. Kate Clifford Larson on Fannie Lou Hamer & the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Kate Clifford Larson, a New York Times best-selling biographer of Harriet Tubman and Fannie Lou Hamer. Kate shares why she has written about these historical African-American figures, and how she thinks parents, teachers, and schools can draw on their lives to talk about race.

Valhalla Foundation’s Nancy Poon Lue on STEM Access & Equity

This week on “The Learning Curve," host Gerard Robinson talks with Nancy Poon Lue, incoming Senior Director at the Valhalla Foundation, where she will be leading their K-12 math funding initiatives. Nancy shares her recent work with the EF+Math Program, some of the challenges America has faced in ensuring students have a strong grounding in math and science, and the kinds of results she aims to achieve for kids in all ZIP codes. 

Untangling Variants & Outbreaks: Can Vaccines & Natural Immunity Outrun Delta?

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with author, surgeon, and public health expert Dr. Marty Makary about the COVID-19 Delta Variant, the durability of natural and vaccinated immunity, the benefits of booster shots, and the health risks for children as we move into the fall.

Trevor Mattos Shows How Massachusetts Runs on Immigrants

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Trevor Mattos, research manager at Boston Indicators, the research center at The Boston Foundation, which educates state and local leaders on the important contributions immigrants are making. They discuss the urgency of this work, particularly in a time of divisive disinformation about immigrants and the uncertainty of the pandemic, and some of the surprising findings on the disproportionately large impact immigrant workers, entrepreneurs and innovators are having on the local economy

Yale’s Pulitzer-Winning Prof. David Blight on Frederick Douglass, Slavery, & Emancipation

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara Candal and guest co-host Derrell Bradford talk with David Blight, Sterling Professor of American History and director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.

UVA Prof. E.D. Hirsch, Jr. on Core Knowledge, Equity, & Educating Citizens

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Professor E.D. Hirsch, Jr., founder and chairman of the Core Knowledge Foundation, professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, and acclaimed author of the books, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know and How to Educate a Citizen: The Power of Shared Knowledge to Unify a Nation.

“Key of the Gulf” – Exploring Cuba – 35 Resources for Parents & Students

Castro’s despotism, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Embargo, remains the Cuban people – vibrant, creative, pious, and poor, who have continued to inspire and awe with their smiles, culture, music, dance, food, tobacco, resilience, and hopes. With the desire of passing along some of this magic to American families, students, teachers, and schools, we’re providing a variety of resources to educate our people about their neighbors, who live a mere 100 miles from our shores, in Cuba.

Human Rights Advocate Kristina Arriaga on Cuba, Religious Liberty, & Cancel Culture

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Kristina Arriaga, president of Intrinsic, a strategic communications firm, and former vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Kristina shares her family’s experiences fleeing Castro’s communist regime in Cuba and other hardships, and how her background has shaped her commitment to religious liberty.

Pandemic Pension Payout: Essential COVID-19 Public Workers Rewarded Whether Essential or Working

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s Director of Research and former Massachusetts Inspector General and State Representative Greg Sullivan about HB 2808, COVID-19 Essential Employee Retirement Credit Bonus, discussing the merits of the recently proposed joint bill, its cost, and our current public debt burden in the Commonwealth.

MBTA Ridership Trends Compared to Public Transportation Agencies Nationwide

/
The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on our economy,…

Public Statement on Implementation of the Charitable Giving Deduction

Despite being awash in cash, the state Legislature just overrode Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of a provision to delay by yet another year a tax deduction for charitable donations. Rep. Mark Cusack, House chair of the Joint Committee on Revenue, said “it doesn’t mean no, just not now.” If not now, when?

The Globe’s Ornaments – Celebrating the Great Cities of the Ages – 35 Resources for Parents & Students

Celebrating the Great Cities of the Ages - This is part of Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, teachers, and students during COVID-19.