Massachusetts jobs and job market: layoffs, colleges and workforce help

Massachusetts’s unemployment rate is 4.3%. 12,881 open professional jobs are listed here. Employers filed 20 layoff notices in the last 12 months. Choose a county or city for the same picture closer to home.

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Massachusetts economy

  • 4.3%

    unemployment, Sep 2026

    4.6% the month before

  • 3,880,158

    in the labor force

    Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics

  • 6,992,395

    people in Massachusetts

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau

  • $101,341

    median household income

    Source: Census ACS

  • 51%

    of workers in white-collar occupations

    Management, business, financial and professional; Census ACS

Massachusetts outlook: Steady

Built from public Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census figures. It describes the area, not any one employer in it.

  • Private-sector jobs down 0.2% from 2022 to 2025
  • Population up 2.4% from 2020 to 2025
  • Unemployment 4.1%, down 0.3 points from a year ago
  • Sectors adding the most jobs: health care (+30,656 jobs), transportation & warehousing (+14,013 jobs)
  • Sectors losing the most jobs: professional & technical (−25,537 jobs), manufacturing (−11,963 jobs)

Local job-market news

Recent headlines about layoffs, AI and jobs in Massachusetts. Each link goes to the publisher.

Learn and get funded in Massachusetts

Massachusetts layoffs

  • 20

    Layoff notices, last 12 months

  • 2,587

    workers named

    A floor: states may leave out counts

  • 17

    employers

All layoff notices in the state

Get an email when a new notice is filed for Massachusetts

One email a day at most, only when there is something new. No account needed.

Employers hiring most in Massachusetts

Employers with the most open professional roles on our job board right now.

  1. Amazon288 open roles
  2. RTX264 open roles
  3. Takeda Development Center Americas195 open roles
  4. Confidential186 open roles
  5. Vertex Pharmaceuticals177 open roles
  6. Anduril Industries135 open roles
  7. Teradyne118 open roles
  8. Formlabs109 open roles
  9. Veeva Systems105 open roles
  10. Westinghouse Electric103 open roles
  11. Michael Page97 open roles
  12. Commonwealth Fusion Systems85 open roles

Largest employers headquartered in Massachusetts

Employee counts with a year are published figures (Wikidata). Other sizes are estimates from our company directory, not payroll counts.

Higher education in Massachusetts

  • 86

    public and private non-profit colleges

    Source: IPEDS, U.S. Department of Education

  • about 497,500

    students enrolled

    Estimated from size bands

Largest colleges in Massachusetts

Largest colleges in Massachusetts
CollegeCityTypeStudents
Boston UniversityBostonPrivate non-profit 4-year20,000+
Harvard UniversityCambridgePrivate non-profit 4-year20,000+
Northeastern UniversityBostonPrivate non-profit 4-year20,000+
University of Massachusetts-AmherstAmherstPublic 4-year20,000+
Boston CollegeChestnut HillPrivate non-profit 4-year10,000–19,999
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridgePrivate non-profit 4-year10,000–19,999
Tufts UniversityMedfordPrivate non-profit 4-year10,000–19,999
University of Massachusetts-BostonBostonPublic 4-year10,000–19,999
University of Massachusetts-LowellLowellPublic 4-year10,000–19,999
Bentley UniversityWalthamPrivate non-profit 4-year5,000–9,999
Berklee College of MusicBostonPrivate non-profit 4-year5,000–9,999
Brandeis UniversityWalthamPrivate non-profit 4-year5,000–9,999

All 86 Massachusetts colleges

Workforce development and job centers

The public workforce board and American Job Centers serving Massachusetts. They offer free help with job search, training and filing for benefits.

Laid off in Massachusetts? How to file for unemployment in Massachusetts (steps, weekly amount and the appeal deadline).

  • Brockton Area Workforce Investment Board DBA MassHire Greater Brockton Workforce Board

    Towns: Abington, Avon, Bridgewater, Brockton, East Bridgewater, Easton, Hanson, Stoughton, West Bridgewater, Whitman

  • Cape & Islands Workforce Board

    Towns: Aquinnah, Barnstable Town, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Chilmark, Dennis, Eastham, Edgartown, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Nantucket, Oak Bluffs, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Tisbury, Truro, Wellfleet, West Tisbury, Yarmouth

  • Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board, Inc., dba MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board

    Towns: Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Rochester, Wareham

  • MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board

    Towns: Adams, Alford, Becket, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Dalton, Egremont, Florida, Great Barrington, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Ashford, New Marlborough, North Adams, Otis, Peru, Pittsfield, Richmond, Sandisfield, Savoy, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Tyringham, Washington, West Stickbridge, Williamstown, Windsor

  • MassHire Boston Workforce Board

    Town: Boston

  • MassHire Bristol Workforce Board

    Towns: Attleboro, Berkley, Dighton, Fall River, Mansfield, North Attleborough, Norton, Raynham, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, Swansea, Taunton, Westport

  • MassHire Central Region Workforce Board

    Towns: Auburn, Blackstone, Boylston, Brookfield, Charlton, Douglas, Dudley, East Brookfield, Grafton, Hardwick, Holden, Hopedale, Leicester, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Northborough, Northbridge, Oakham, Oxford, Paxton, Rutland, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Spencer, Sturbridge, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Warren, Webster, West Boylston, West Brookfield, Westborough, Worcester

  • MassHire Franklin Hampshire Workforce Board

    Towns: Amherst, Ashfield, Athol, Belchertown, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Chesterfield, Colrain, Conway, Cummington, Deerfield, Easthampton, Erving, Gill, Goshen, Granby, Greenfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Hawley, Heath, Huntington, Leverett, Leyden, Middlefield, Monroe, Montague, New Salem, Northampton, Northfield, Orange, Pelham, Petersham, Phillipston, Plainfield, Rowe, Royalston, Shelburne, Shutesbury, South Hadley, Southampton, Sunderland, Ware, Warwick, Wendell, Westhampton, Whately, Williamsburg, Worthington

  • MassHire Greater Lowell Workforce Board

    Towns: Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough, Westford

  • MassHire Hampden County Workforce Board, Inc.

    Towns: Agawam, Blandford, Brimfield, Chester, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Granville, Hampden, Holland, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Monson, Montgomery, Palmer, Russell, Southwick, Springfield, Tolland, Wales, West Springfield, Westfield, Wilbraham

  • MassHire Merrimack Valley Workforce Board

    Towns: Amesbury, Andover, Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Lawrence, Merrimac, Methuen, Newbury, Newburyport, North Andover, Rowley, Salisbury, West Newbury

  • MassHire North Central Workforce Board

    Towns: Ashburnham, Ashby, Ayer, Barre, Berlin, Bolton, Clinton, Fitchburg, Gardner, Groton, Harvard, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Leominster, Lunenburg, Pepperell, Princeton, Shirley, Sterling, Templeton, Townsend, Westminster, Winchendon

  • MassHire SouthShore Workforce Board

    Towns: Braintree, Carver, Cohasset, Duxbury, Halifax, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Kingston, Marshfield, Middleborough, Milton, Norwell, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton, Quincy, Randolph, Rockland, Scituate, Weymouth

  • MassHire-North Shore Workforce Board

    Towns: Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Gloucester, Hamilton, Ipswich, Lynn, Lynnfield, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Marblehead, Middleton, Nahant, Peabody, Rockport, Salem, Saugus, Swampscott, Topsfield, Wenham

  • Metro North Regional Employment Board

    Towns: Arlington, Belmont, Burlington, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Revere, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Watertown, Wilmington, Winchester, Winthrop, Woburn

  • Metro South/West Workforce Board, Inc.

    Towns: Acton, Ashland, Bedford, Bellingham, Boxborough, Brookline, Canton, Carlisle, Concord, Dedham, Dover, Foxborough, Framingham, Franklin, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton, Marlborough, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norfolk, Norwood, Plainville, Sharon, Sherborn, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury, Walpole, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, Weston, Westwood, Wrentham

24 American Job Centers in Massachusetts

Job fairs and business events in Massachusetts

Hiring events, career workshops, small-business counseling and startup events from chambers, job centers, workforce boards, colleges and economic-development groups in Massachusetts.

Conferences in Massachusetts

Industry conferences and trade shows held in Massachusetts, the ones worth a trip for hiring managers and job seekers. 51 with dates announced.

Showing 24 of 79 conferences, 51 with dates announced.

All conferences

Massachusetts counties

Each county page has its own unemployment, layoffs, job openings, employers, colleges and job centers.

Massachusetts cities

Cities with open jobs, layoff notices, a job center or a college.

Show all 145

Laid off or looking for work in Massachusetts?

See what to do first, what Massachusetts unemployment benefits pay, and the jobs open near you.

See your options after a layoff

Sources: Census Bureau and BLS for population, income and unemployment; layoff notices from Massachusetts’s published record; job counts from our live job board, taken from employers’ own career sites; IPEDS for colleges; CareerOneStop for workforce boards and job centers. Massachusetts unemployment benefits and severance rules.

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