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How does anyone lose track of $2.5 billion?

There has been no detailed explanation of how the Baker administration used federal money for state jobless benefits.

Mass. jobless rate drops to 2.8 percent as workforce shrinks

Payrolls in the state have expanded at an average of nearly 8,400 jobs a month this year.

The Fed will do ‘whatever it takes’ to whip inflation. That might mean a recession.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said central bank officials are ‘completely unified in the need to get inflation down to 2 percent.’

Producer prices drop 0.3 percent from April to May

On a month-to-month basis, overall producer prices have now dropped three of the last four months.

Larry Edelman
Stubbornly high housing inflation shows signs of relenting — but not in Boston
The growth in shelter costs slowed nationally for the second straight month in May, according to Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index report. In Boston, however, prices accelerated.

US consumer price growth slowed last month, though underlying inflation measures stayed high
The pullback was driven by tumbling gas prices, smaller increases in grocery prices, and other items.

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Larry Edelman | Trendlines

Mass. business community wins some, loses some in Senate’s tax relief package

The Legislature is responding to concern that Massachusetts is losing its competitive edge over states such as New Hampshire and Florida where living costs and taxes are lower.

Larry Edelman

Earlier mistakes foreshadowed the state’s $2.5 billion unemployment accounting blunder

In a 2021 review, KPMG found multiple errors in tracking federal and state money used to pay jobless claims.

World Bank projects weak global growth amid rising interest rates

“Rays of sunshine in the global economy we saw earlier in the year have been fading, and gray days likely lie ahead,” said Ayhan Kose, deputy chief economist at the World Bank Group.

larry edelman | trendlines

What the heck is happening with the economy?

On balance, business conditions seem healthy enough to avoid a painful recession. If the US economy were a zeppelin, I’d say it had a slow leak.

Wall Street leaps, nearly escapes its bear market after strong jobs report

The jobs report is the latest signal the hiring market remains remarkably solid despite much higher interest rates, offering a hefty pillar of support for an economy that’s begun to slow.

In a nasty surprise, state learns it erred by using $2.5 billion in federal money to pay jobless claims

A pivotal question is whether employers, who pay into the state unemployment trust fund to cover jobless benefits, will have to bear some of the cost of the mistake.

For some on a tight margin, debt ceiling deal could make things even tighter

The agreement passed by the House on Wednesday includes changes to food and cash assistance used widely across Massachusetts.

Why spending cuts probably won’t shake the economy

Economists say the debt deal is unlikely to inflict the sort of lasting damage to the recovery that was caused by the 2011 deal — and, paradoxically, the newfound spending restraint might even help it.