People Relocating to Mass.- Lots of jobs? (Boston, Weymouth: section 8, apartments)

[brightdoglover]

(Disclaimer, I am a 35+ year resident of Mass., with a couple of sprints out of state and out of country with a bellyflop back each time). On this board, it seems a lot of people are moving to Mass. or relocating in the area for jobs. Is Mass. becoming a good-jobs-available haven? If people are coming from other areas and have jobs in hand, that implies to me that the jobs might be on the upper end of things, professionally, to pull people in from other areas. Are things going well, or better, here in Mass.?

[konfetka]

The unemployment rate in Massachusetts has peaked two years ago and has been steadily declining half-way down to pre-2008 levels, currently at 6.8%. So yes, there are jobs in Massachusetts, and of course, generally higher skills are in more demand. And since there are fewer jobs elsewhere, people are moving.

[Ronnie555]

Boston has one of the best economies in the country right now... tons of biotech and software firms, tons of entrepreneurs, startups, young companies growing at 100-200%, etc.

So yes Boston is one of the best job markets out there. I can't think of many other that can compete right now..

Maybe Austin, TX... Texas' economy has recovered quite nicely in the past few years.

[mdovell]

It depends what you want for a job. Some companies can grow but it depends on the field. Manufacturing exists but it is much more sophisticated. If you are looking to teach or get in the medical field (or both) then this would be the place to be. Construction might be said to be coming back but it is spotty.

I'd also argue that there's much more competition. A bachelors is a nearly baseline and I'd argue in the next decade it is going to become a default.

On the note of software you don't really HAVE to be in an area to program. Akamai recently told its employees that they can work from home. Heck there are call centers that are now out of homes (Starwood hotels) etc.

Technically NH has lower unemployment..it has for at least 20 years now, Vermont is the same (5.1%), Maine is about the same as mass... Virginia is 6.2%, maryland is about the same. So I wouldn't exactly say it is the lowest in the region but it really depends as to what you are looking for.

DC might appear to have a high unemployment but it is mostly governmental and plenty work there but don't live there so the numbers can be misleading. Michigan is gaining in finance due to quicken and has been focusing on healthcare.

I'd also say we have a growing film industry. We might not see an actual production studio with a set but fair amounts of films are made on location here.

[tamiznluv]

Originally Posted by mdovell

I'd also say we have a growing film industry. We might not see an actual production studio with a set but fair amounts of films are made on location here.

I don't read the local mackeral wrapper anymore so yeah, what ever happened to that "Plymouth Rocks Studio" that had many, many meetings at Plymouth South for people interested in working for the film industry?? Did our (cough, cough) wonderful selectmen or Govenor put too many hoops in the way?

[mdovell]

From what I understand the people that were planning on making that over leveraged themselves and just didn't have the funds. There have been plenty of projects that dried up in the country due to a lack of them. There is some development in other areas. Weymouth has some at the old airbase. The legislator that was the most anti tax credit on film (D'mico - bad spelling) didn't win reelection so I'm under a general assumption that films will continue to be made here for awhile. Sometimes all they need is just a scene. Some Tom Cruise film had a bit of the zakim bridge and a scene in a cornfield in bridgewater.

[Beachcomber4]

It would also seem at least once a week there is a thread about moving to MA, how do I get on MA Health, Section 8 voucher/lack of section 8 deleaded apartments and/or where can I live cheap? Are the freebies that good or are people misinformed?

[brightdoglover]

The Romneycare health plan does require poor people to have subsidized-to-free health care insurance. Otherwise, I doubt anything going on here would pull in poor people (especially since it costs money to move, whether nearby or out of state). There are certainly waiting lists for Section 8 housing (and it isn't available where one might want it to be).
I am intrigued by the idea that there are such good jobs, at least in eastern/Boston area Mass. that people with high salaries and good educational backgrounds would come here and, I hope, live well (after recovering from the overall sticker shock).
I do wish there was a recovery in all kinds of manufacturing, in many parts of the country.

[Valerie C]

I know it's off-topic, but just wanted to say that several of us are having this very discussion on another social media site. Unfortunately, we are now in a 'throw-away and replace it' society, instead of a 'fix or repair it' society. Just yesterday, we were reminiscing about buying a 'made in USA' VCR, paying over $500, sending it to the repair shop when some dohickey mechanism broke (employing or self-employed small business) and belonging to a video shop (employees) These days, nothing is worth fixing anymore, and everything from cell phones to dvd players to microwave ovens has a pre-determined shelf life, and the replacements are most definitely not produced here. Very sad that start-ups outsource directly to China instead of producing it here...

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I do wish there was a recovery in all kinds of manufacturing, in many parts of the country.

[Kelticroam]

Not sure why but in NH more job availability for technical positions in the seacoast area vs cental or southern nh. In Vt mostly in or near Burlington, VT. Housing is affordable not sure what affordable means anymore however Rents in most areas of NH are very high.