Small Business

Despite the rough past 16 months and the pandemic’s continued impact on the economy, local forecasters are optimistic about the short- and long-term future of the Central Massachusetts business community, especially as statewide restrictions have been lifted and vaccination rates rise.

As Central Massachusetts, and the nation, recovers from the sharpest recession in its history, companies around the region are coping with the same situation.

As the United States trepidatiously moves toward normalcy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Small Business Administration on Tuesday marked the closure of the Paycheck Protection Program.

Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday signed legislation that will allow businesses to avoid steep spikes in unemployment insurance taxes this spring and summer by spreading the cost over the next 20 years, but the administration and lawmakers still face pressure to use federal relief funds to remove some of that burden from employers.

Gov. Charlie Baker made it official early Friday afternoon: the great majority of the state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions that have shaped life in Massachusetts since last March will no longer be in effect starting Saturday.

While Massachusetts may not recover all of the jobs it lost until 2022, 2023, or beyond, the economic recovery here is "well underway," aided by federal stimulus spending and COVID-19 vaccinations, and the outlook for the rest of 2021 is "quite positive," according to area economists.

When Vivian and Juan Acevedo opened Lowell's Panela restaurant in 2019, it was in many ways the realization of a dream and the culmination of Vivian's culinary career.

Kicking off Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Massachusetts House Asian Caucus is putting forward a social media challenge encouraging people to shop at Asian American and Pacific Islander-owned businesses.

After a surge in March, confidence among businesses in Massachusetts took a tiny step backward in April but analysts said firms have their eyes on a robust recovery over the next six months.

The Town of Ashland announced on Monday it has received $564,955 across three grants for various improvement projects ranging from local business development to firefighter safety.