Latest from Top 150
eBook: The 2024 Top 10
Sponsored
2005 SALES FORECAST +8.9% NEW ENGLAND
New Englanders will be celebrating the victory of their beloved Boston Red Sox in the World Series well into 2005, but the electrical industry has more reasons to cheer next year because New England's economy is expected to post solid gains. Employment numbers look promising for 2005, and the region's manufacturers expect capital expenditures to increase moderately. New England's economy took longer to rebound from the recession because of its ties to the high-tech market. Approximately 21 percent of all jobs in the Boston area are in computers, biotech, electronics and other high-tech industries. Office vacancy rates in downtown Boston have stabilized at approximately 14 percent, but open space in the burbs contributes to a 20-percent vacancy rate for the region. Building permits in the region were up 12 percent year-to-date at press-time, but some economists believe dramatic increases in home prices in Massachusetts point toward a housing bubble.
(in millions of dollars)
NA — Not available
MSA — Metropolitan Statistical Area
PMSA — Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area
CMSA — Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area
EC — Electrical contractor employees for April 2004. Electrical Wholesaling estimates these numbers based on Current Employment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau's County Business Patterns.
M — Manufacturing employees for August 2004. Source: Current Employment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
C — Commercial account employees (professional and business services, retail trade, financial activities, educational and health services, leisure and hospitality, and other services) for August 2004.
Source: Current Employment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
G — Government employees for August 2004. Source: Current Employment Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics