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Unemployment Still on the Rise

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Although the job market is doing better than expected at the national level, unemployment in Massachusetts is rising with 44,732 residents filed for unemployment last week.

According to projections from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, the Commonwealth will lose more than half a million jobs from April through June. Including the March layoffs during the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, that pushes the state unemployment rate close to 18%.

The foundation also estimates that the total number of unemployed will reach 677,000. Earlier this month, the Pioneer Institute projected that the unemployment rate could rise to 25.4% by June.

Energy jobs have been especially hard hit dropping more than 20,000 jobs by the end of May and things might get worse for the industry. 

The International Energy Agency has projected that energy demand could fall by 6 percent in 2020. That’s seven times the decline after the global financial crisis in 2008. 

According to a report in the Boston Globe: “The unprecedented decline is equivalent to all the energy demand of India, the world’s third-largest energy consumer.”

And to make matters worse, according to a report in Solar Industry Magazine, experts at the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) believe proposed new clean energy regulations in Mass. could have the unintended consequence and result in the cancellation of nearly 80 solar energy projects.

Although the size of the program is doubling under the new regulations as much as 90% of land in Massachusetts will become unavailable for solar panel arrays. The rules are expected to be finalized by July 15.

Some of those jobs are expected to return, but many Mass. businesses are closing their doors indefinitely. 

In an effort to expedite the reopening of the state’s economy, the City of Boston has established a Reopen Boston Fund. The fund is intended to assists businesses in purchasing personal protective equipment and so far, the City has received over 1,000 applications from small business owners.

Boston Real Estate COVID Consortium Launches

A group of Boston-based real estate professionals has formed the Boston Real Estate COVID Consortiumro to promote the sharing of current best practices for adapting to regulatory amendments established to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Consortium was co-founded by STV|DPM Vice President and Project Executive Denise Pied and Director of Business Development Sandra Gucciardi. 

According to a report in Nerej.com, the multidisciplinary industry team includes “experts from the project management, construction, commercial real estate brokerage, commissioning, code review, design, environmental engineering, technology, and furniture sectors.”

The group has issued the following statement:

“We believe innovative project strategies and checklists around these disciplines will assist our active clients and other real estate leaders in assessing new in-office and remote work requirements as they bring their employees back to work and going forward. The ultimate goal is to develop a ‘toolkit’ of best practice resources that could be rolled out as part of ongoing and new project work. Boston’s Real Estate and A/E/C COVID Consortium is committed to providing relevant, reliable and user-friendly insights on a weekly basis.”

Cannabis Regulators Compiling Legal Cannabis Products Catalog

Mass. cannabis regulators have begun compiling a catalog of the marijuana products being sold at dispensaries in the state. 

Manufacturers and retailers will be asked to provide detailed information on all cannabis products such as THC or CBD levels, serving size, ingredients, and description, plus a photo. The CCC sent out an e-mail to inform all license holders of new fields in the state’s cannabis tracking system. 

The purpose of the project is to give regulators, consumers, parents, and law enforcement a resource they can use to discern between legal and illegal products.

According to Shawn Collins, Executive Director of the Mass. Cannabis Control Commission: “This information is optional, currently, for the licensee for them to assist us in developing this product catalog ... We do anticipate that some of these fields could at some point become a requirement.”

Read more here: Mass. marijuana regulators developing product catalog

Officials say Boston-Springfield Rail Service would Require Federal Assistance 

State officials said Wednesday that a proposed high-speed “east-west” rail service between Boston and Springfield could draw far more riders than previously estimated. 

Prior projections estimated ridership to be anywhere from 36 to 800-plus per day. On Wednesday, Mass. Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said, based on new estimates, ridership could be four to five times higher than originally projected. 

However, Pollack added that “even those ridership levels may not be enough for the multi-billion dollar project to qualify for federal funding, said state,” and that the project might never see the light of day without federal assistance.

Advocates for the future rail service argue that it would “allow workers to live further out in more affordable regions and still commute into Boston, while also boosting the economies of Western Massachusetts,” according to the report.

MassDOT estimates that improving rail service along existing tracks will cost $2 billion, while an electric high-speed line will cost upwards of $25 billion.

The Baker administration is now studying the feasibility of the project.

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