Economy

More than 55,000 new unemployment claims were filed by Massachusetts workers last week, bringing the total during the coronavirus pandemic to 778,000.

The heads of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Westborough healthcare information technology firm eClinicalWorks have been tapped for a Massachusetts advisory board to help shape a reopening of the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

An economic index for Greater Worcester shows the region's economy fell by 1.6% in the first quarter, a decline its author says underestimates the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly 71,000 more Massachusetts workers filed new unemployment claims last week, pushing the six-week total during the coronavirus pandemic past 720,000.

Foreign-born immigrants have long driven the Worcester area’s population growth – and given diversity to its restaurants, shops, schools and workplaces – but a precipitous drop in international arrivals in 2019 could portend challenges to come.

The federal government will begin accepting applications again to the Payroll Protection Program on Monday morning, about a week and a half after the program was halted because it ran out of money.

Initial unemployment claims in Massachusetts remained at crisis levels last week but fell 22%, the third straight weekly drop. The unprecedented surge in claims has already forced the state to use most of its unemployment fund, which stood at more than $1.6 billion at the start of March.

Gov. Charlie Baker hinted Tuesday he plans to convene a group of public health, academic and business leaders to assemble a thoughtful framework for how Massachusetts might be able to resume more normal economic and social life once the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

Milka Njoroge is CEO of Worcester home healthcare agency Century Homecare. She spoke with WBJ on April 2 about how her firm was navigating the coronavirus pandemic, as her workers mostly deal with vulnerable patients who have a variety of medical needs.

Nearly 47,000 small Massachusetts businesses have received or are in line to receive $10.4 billion through a now-defunct federal aid program to help them through coronavirus pandemic-related closures and drops in revenue.