Economy

Unemployment claims in Massachusetts hit a record high in late March, and although each subsequent week has remained high there's generally been one relative positive: the number of total claims have fallen each week. The progress, as it were, has not been universal.

All 10 employment sectors in Massachusetts saw drops. As expected, the industries hardest hit have been leisure and hospitality, where jobs were down 61%, construction, with jobs down 37%, and trade and transportation, with jobs declining 20%.

Massachusetts state officials are carefully weighing coronavirus trends as they slowly reopen businesses and other public places so they don't have to reverse and close back up again, the state's secretary of housing and economic development said Thursday.

Unemployment claims filed since the coronavirus pandemic hit have reached roughly 865,000 in Massachusetts after another 38,328 claims were filed last week, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released Thursday.

During an interview on the WBJ Podcast, Stephanie Ramey, the new president of the Worcester Railers Hockey Club said the team is planning on starting its next season on Oct. 24 as planned.

More than 44,000 more Massachusetts residents filed new unemployment claims last week, pushing total claims so far in the state during the coronavirus pandemic past 800,000.

It would be "incredibly irresponsible" to send everyone back to work at the same time, Gov. Charlie Baker said Wednesday, pushing back against critics who have accused him of moving too slowly to restart the state's economy as he simultaneously tries to steer the state through the COVID-19 crisis.

Almost half of small businesses in Worcester County have closed at least temporarily during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an analysis by a team of researchers led by Harvard University.

More than 20% of the Massachusetts workforce has applied for unemployment since the coronavirus crisis began in mid-March, particularly those employees in the hospitality, retail and healthcare sectors.

The United States lost more than 20 million jobs in April, pushing the national unemployment rate for the month to 14.7%, according to new U.S. Department of Labor data released Friday.