Mass. Only State To See Population Decline, Census Shows

BOSTON -- New census figures show fewer people lived in the Bay State over the past year -- making Massachusetts the only state to see a population decline in that time.

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Janet Wu Reports On Census RESOURCES U.S. Census Bureau's list

NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported Wednesday that not everyone sees the numbers as a negative.

You can blame the weather, you can point to the high cost of living, but in the end, it boils down to two major factors.

"We are an expensive state to do business in and the cost of housing is very high. We are just not growing jobs. There are some signs of recovery. Exports are up, but the employment situation continues to stagnate," Wellesley College economist Karl Case said.

Massachusetts is the only state to see a population drop over the last year. About 3,800 fewer people live in the state. That's a decrease of just under one-tenth of one percent, which some urban economists insist is good news.

"The reason that I am not pessimistic about the numbers is that it's a very small change," economist Brett Baden said. "It is not an indicative of a larger trend."

Baden said that if you look at the population numbers over the larger time period -- over the past five years -- Massachusetts saw an increase of 67,000 residents, an approximate 1 percent gain in population.

"It's a puzzle. The economy is beginning to recover nationally, and why we are not getting our share of that is a mystery," Case said.

Case said that the job losses are the most troubling. Over the past three years, the state has lost nearly 200,000 jobs -- or 5.6 percent. Compare this to numbers nationally, which show just over 400,000 jobs lost which is significantly less than 1 percent.

The jobs lost are spread across many sectors and not just a couple of key industries.

"We are a relatively high tax state, but per dollar income, we are actually really not. As you look at the periods of very rapid growth in this state, there were periods when taxes were actually higher. I think it's hard to pin it on taxes," Case said.

Case said that Boston office space has a 20 percent vacancy rate and college students are not staying in the state as they have in previous years.