Boston’s industries have seen strong growth but its economy is still weighed down

Although Boston’s leading industries—education and life sciences—have seen strong growth since the start of the pandemic, its economy is still weighed down by heavy losses in restaurants, retail, and hospitality. Boston’s net job decline of 2.6% from the pre-pandemic peak ranked in the bottom 15 of the 50 largest metros. It is expected to recover its lost jobs in Q4 this year.

What you will learn:

• With students back on campus, Boston’s university employment has fully recovered
  and added a net 2,200 jobs (2%) since the start of the pandemic.
• Like New York, Boston’s downtown thrives on tourists and office workers, without
  which the recovery of its restaurants, hotels, and retail has stalled.
• Like most northeast metros, Boston has suffered outmigration. Its population has lost
  13,000 (-0.3%) since the start of the pandemic, but we forecast that the metro will see
  a return to in-migration from 2022-2026 for expected average annual population
  growth of 0.6% during the period.