Table Of ContentE
Commonwealth ofMassachusetts
Department of
UMASS/AMHERST
,
Employment
' and Training
Massachusetts
Service Delivery Area
Market
Job Reports:
SDA
The Metro South/West
William F. Weld, Covernor DanielS. Gregory, SecretawofEconomicAffairs Nils L. Nordberg. CommissionerofEmplovmentandTraining
Department of
f
Employment
and
Training
Massachusetts
Area
Service Delivery
Job Market Reports:
SDA
The Metro South/West
Berkshire
County
The following cities and towns comprise the Metro South/West SDA
Acton Foxborough Medfield Southborough
Ashland Framingham Medway Stow
Bedford Franklin Millis Sudbury
Bellingham Holliston Natick Walpole
Boxborough Hopkinton Needham Waltham
Brookline Hudson Newton Wayland
Canton Lexington Norfolk Wellesley
Carlisle Lincoln Norwood Weston
Westwood
Concord Littleton Plainville
Dedham Marlborough Sharon Wrentham
Dover Maynard Sherborn
Economic Research and Analysis
Elliot A. Winer Chief
Catherine Foley Economist
Ma\ 1991
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2014
in
https://archive.org/details/massachusettsser00mass_5
Contents
Introduction: theSDAJob Market Reports 1
Howto Interpret theJob Market and Use
theReports 2
Overview: JobTrends in the SDAs 4
The SDAProfile 12
NotesAbout the Data 80
Appendix 81
Tables
Changes in Population, Employmentand
UnemploymentbyService DeliveryArea 4
Job Growth in Service DeliveryAreas by
Sector, 1984-1989 6
Distribution ofJobs in Service DeliveryAreas
by Industryand Occupation 8
1989AverageAnnual Wages bySDAand
Industry 10
Employment in Major Groups 14
Top Ten Occupations and Industrieswith the
Largest Employment 15
Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment 16
TableA: Employment by Occupation 18
Table B: Employment in Selected Occupations
by Industry 29
Table C: Employment in Selected Industries
by Occupation 58
Charts
Industries differsubstantially in the kinds
ofworkers theyemploy 3
Unemployment Rates 1984-1989, Massachusetts and
U.S 8
Percentageshareofemployment rising
fastest in occupational groups requiring more education and
decreasing in occupations requiring less education 10
Distribution ofEmploymentby Industryand
Occupation 13
Introduction:
SDA
the Job Market
Reports
Thisreport analyzes theecono- studythegeographicalmovementof
mies and job markets of the jobsand workers within thestateto
Commonwealth's 15 ServiceDeliv- relatethelocation andnumberof
eryAreasbetween 1984and1990. It workersbyoccupation todemand
examinesthekindofjobsthatlocal
areas generated or lost over the assessandanalyze the occupational
period,the industriesthatmake up compositionofjobsandskillrequire-
the area, the average earnings of mentswithin areas.
workers,thelevelofunemployment
andeducationintheworkforce,and Thereare15ServiceDeliver. Areas
the distribution ofjobs by occupa- inMassachusetts,each profiled ina
tion. separatereport. Each report,how-
ever, contains an overview of the
Thisreportprovidesanoverviewof economic growth in all service de-
theemergingeconomicforceschang- livery areas. Refer to the appendix
ing the job market. Data on local for a listing ofthe cities and towns
area population, labor force, em- comprisinga servicedeliveryarea
.
ployment, unemployment, job
growth, wages, and income are in- Service Deliver)' Areas were estab-
cluded as well as information on lished under the provisions of the
howto interpret and use thedata. 1983 federal Job Training Partner-
ship Act, to tailor the Common-
This report also analyzes the occu- wealth's employment and training
pational staffing patterns of local programsto the needsofcitizens in
economies, publishing for the first local areas. Some service deliver,
time, a detailed occupational em- areasconsistofasinglecounty,others
ploymentdata basebySDA. Labor arecomprisedoftwoormorecoun-
leaders,educators,humanresource ties. The Boston Service Deliver.
specialists, and Regional Employ- Area is the only single-city SDA.
ment Boardscan use this data to: while others cross county lines.
plan anddesign education and
trainingprograms
1
How The 1980and 1988populationesti-
to
mates are from the Bureau of the
Census. Natural increases are de-
Interpret the Job Market rived from the Massachusetts De-
partment of Public Health's esti-
mates of births and deaths. Net
and Use the Reports migration estimates are derived by
subtracting the total net change in
populationfromthenaturalincrease.
Labor Force
The size and characteristics of the
labor force determine the number
and type of people competing for
jobs. Changes in educational re-
quirements, the size of the labor
force, and the age structure affect
employment opportunities.
Table I lists the total number of
personsinthelaborforce,i.e.,those
This report is divided into two sec- the Standard Industrial Classifica- that are either employed or unem-
tions. Section I summarizes the tionManual,1972andthe1977Sup- ployed. This count is residentially-
changesinpopulation,employment plement. based and includes self-employed
andunemploymentinall 15Service and unpaid familyworkers in addi-
DeliveryAreas,highlightingthegeo- Howto Use the Data tion towageand salaryworkers.
graphic concentration of jobs by The following sections briefly out-
industryand occupation. Section II line how to interpret and use the Growth vs. Number ofJobs
profilestherespectiveservicedeliv- data. Whenassessinganarea'seconomic
eryareaandpresentsadetailedseries viability, it is important to distin-
of tables on the area's occupations Population guish between an area's rate ofjob
and industries. Population trends provide a meas- creation and the number of jobs
ureofan area's economicstability. generated.Even thoughanareahas
TableAin Section IIlists the num- Ifan area has high unemployment afastrateofjobgrowth it maygen-
ber ofjobs by occupation and pro- and is losing its economic base, a erate fewer numbers of jobs than
videsthepercentdistributionofthe decline in employment usually re- slow growing areas. For example,
jobs within the area, highlighting sults in an eventual decrease in theBrocktonServiceDeliveryArea
the diverse occupational structure population and income. Theoppo- had the second fastest job growth
oftheSDA Occupationsaregrouped site is generally true in areas with rate,butgeneratedonly4.7percent
by skill level to allow comparisons fast growingeconomies. Themore oftheCommonwealth'sjobs. Many
ofsimilaror related occupations. jobs an area generates, the more of these jobs were low paying and
people move into the area to seek decreasedthearea'spercentageshare
TableBinSectionIIliststheindus- employment. Population growth, oftotalstatewages. Bycomparison,
trieswherejobsare found in major however, can occur independently the city of Boston was the slowest
occupations. Finally,Table C pres- of employment in certain areas, growingarea,withjobgrowth aver-
ents the number and type of jobs particularlyiftheregion is a retire- aging 0.7 percent peryear. Never-
found inmajorindustriesinthelocal mentcommunity. theless, becauseofits size it gener-
economy. Industries are defined in ated 7.6percent ofthestate'sjobs.
termsoftheStandard Industrial Clas- Population changes from natural
A
sification (SIC) system. detailed increases, the difference in the Theindustryemploymentdatashown
descriptionoftheSIC,includingin- number of births and deaths, and in Table 2 is compiled through the
dustry definitions is contained in migration,areidentified inTableI. Department of Employment and
2
