…with the professional, scientific, and technical services sector (PSTS) exhibiting the greatest slowdown relative to competitor states since 2022. This sector includes scientific research and development, computer systems design, engineering, and scientific consulting firms…
From 2020 to 2024, Massachusetts’ private sector per capita real GSP grew by 11.9%, well below the national average of 13.3%, and significantly behind Florida (17.2%), Texas (15.9%), and New Hampshire (14.8%)…
While Massachusetts’ PSTS sector grew by 24.8% on a per capita basis, it was outpaced by Texas (36.7%), Florida (36.9%), North Carolina (38.2%), and Washington (45%).
In 2022 and 2023 per capita GSP growth in the PSTS sector bottomed out and ranked the Commonwealth among the three slowest growing states in the nation. In 2024, growth improved but still trailed the national average.
I had never heard of the Pioneer Institute. So I read their about page and the founding and history page. They seem to have some inherent biases, as do we all. They may be spot on, but I would like to see a less ideological group’s findings.
From the institute’s about page:
The application of free markets is not a conservative nor even a libertarian dictum. Markets work. Over the past half-century, governments of all political persuasions have used markets to provide more effective and efficient services.
Conclusions about what should be done and the like reflect a group’s bias. But numbers (in this case growth since the pandemic) are numbers. Do you think the data is cooked? Certainly the covid crash and recovery was unusual. Do you think Massachusetts was affected differently?
Actually the analysis is from WalletHub, just replayed by Mass.gov. If you don’t want to click the link, here’s the relevant opening:
Massachusetts Ranked Best State Economy in the Country
Latest national ranking from WalletHub gives Massachusetts top marks for its investments in innovation, research and education
**BOSTON** — Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll are celebrating that Massachusetts was recently ranked **[the best state economy](https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-best-economies/21697)** in the country, citing the state’s dominance in industry and academic research and development, as well as its unmatched talent.
WalletHub compared state dynamics across 28 relevant metrics, including unemployment rate, change in GDP, exports per capita and start-up activity. Massachusetts was praised in particular for having the highest share of jobs in high-tech industries, the highest percentage of firms that are listed on the Technology Fast 500 list, the second-most invention patents per capita and the third-highest share of STEM professionals.
“Massachusetts is number one for education, health care and innovation.
Huh. Who to believe, some partisan think tank or my own eyes. Hard to decide.
This is good. What the original article was concerned about was the delta, the slowing growth.
“…while Massachusetts remains one of the most economically productive states in the nation, growth in its Gross State Product (GSP), has slowed significantly over the past five years.”
“The state’s per capita real GSP growth fell from fourth fastest in the nation (1998–2019) to 28th fastest (2020–2024).”
An example, with numbers from the St. Louis FRED:
Mass GDP from 2021 to 2024
$7.807B/6.495 = 1.20
Texas GDP from 2021 to 2024
$2.709T/2.088 = 1.30
Massachusetts still holds the second-highest real GDP per capita in the country, but the article is flashing warning signs. Is it just a blip or something more?