While in many sectors, employment continued to grow in New England over the last year, the information sector – mainly local newspapers – dropped nearly 4 percent, far greater than the national average, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s New England Economic Conditions for July.
The Federal Reserve, in what seemed a statement that ignored years of declining employment in journalism, said the information sector “has been going through significant downsizing across the region since early 2023…Gannett laid off many journalists working for local newspapers in Brockton … and Providence.”
Gannett also closed 20 weekly newspapers in Massachusetts and consolidated the remainder in Massachusetts int a “a small number of digital media outlets.”
Overall, the information sector job loss in New England was 3.74 percent over the last year, compared to 1.18 percent nationally, according to the Boston Federal Reserve.
While not surprising, those numbers were possibly the most dramatic of a report that continued to show overall employment growth in the region, although slower than the rest of the nation, with educational and health care leading the way.
Some of the numbers reported by the Boston Fed for May, were in contrast with numbers for June as reported by Morgan Stanley.
For instance, Morgan Stanley reported a drop in Consumer Price Index by 0.1 percent month over month, and 3 percent year over year nationally, while the Boston Fed said the CPI rose in Boston by 4 percent, but that was based on May figures.
The biggest contributor to inflation remained housing, the Boston Fed said, but there also were some inconsistencies. The Boston Fed report said housing or shelter costs rose nearly 8 percent in Boston, while Morgan Stanley attributed the decline in CPI to lower shelter “pressures” and “favorable declines in gasoline and airfare prices.”
Here are some other findings in the Boston Fed’s July 9 report:
- Unemployment rates rose slightly in both the United States (0.3 percent) and New England (0.4 percent). Even though unemployment ticked up, New England’s May 2024 unemployment rate of 3.4 percent was lower than the 4 percent nationally. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate of 4.3 percent was tied with Connecticut for the highest in the region.
- Layoffs in all New England states, except for Massachusetts (0.8 percent), were higher than the national average of 1 percent. Rhode Island was highest at 1.8 percent.
- House prices throughout New England were higher than the national average annual increase of 6.57 percent. The regional average was 9.31 percent, with Vermont highest at 12.87 percent. Rhode Island has the slowest growth regionally at 8.44 percent. Vermont was the highest in the nation.
The media employment numbers follow a massive decline in print circulation among newspapers nationwide that includes several closures.
According to the Alliance for Audited Media, Providence Journal circulation has declined from 164,000 weekdays in 2005, to under 20,000 today; and Sunday has declined from 231,000 in 2005 to 24,417 today. Digitally, the Journal’s daily readership is about 5,500 and Sundays, about 5,400.
