Massachusetts Benchmarks outlook, pessimistic and grounded on "wage-less job growth"

In its latest dispatch, the Editorial Board of MassBenchmarks isn't pleased with the Massachusetts economy: low worker productivity, unfilled niche jobs and near-zero wage growth. These factors will not bode well for state tax receipts say the consortium of economists. They explore some of the reasons for slow wage growth:

There is also some reason to believe that the declining pricing power of firms in some sectors of the economy has hampered their ability to raise wages. And rising health care costs are consuming resources employers might have used to raise employee wages in settings where these benefits are provided. Additionally, the aging of the workforce and the rising number of retirements have allowed some employers to replace their more experienced and more highly paid staff with younger and presumably lower-paid new staff members.

Read the entire summary here.