Index Has Now Reached Lowest Level Since COVID-19 Pandemic in March 2020
Tariff policies and national political developments slid Massachusetts employers further into a state of pessimism in April.
After employers settled into the pessimistic range in March, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts reported Wednesday that its Business Confidence Index showed another drop last month, placing employers’ April 2025 confidence at 41.5 on a 100-point scale.
The index has now reached its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020. The April 2025 index reads 4.5 points lower than it did in March 2025 and 10.4 points lower than in April 2024.
AIM President and CEO Brooke Thomson said the increasing pessimism is due to the combination of tariff policies, research grant cancellations, federal infrastructure funding reviews and uncertainty surrounding federal tax cuts.
Participants surveyed for the report, which is based on the feedback of more than 140 Massachusetts employers, said tariffs are a major concern when it comes to their Chinese exports, and that they are beginning to see the impacts of rising costs for tools, supplies and raw materials.
The Trump administration began to roll out global tariffs in March, and continued to do so through April. Cuts to the National Institutes of Health are expected to hit Massachusetts especially hard, as much of the research conducted in the state relies on NIH grants.
“Employers value certainty above all else and certainty has been in short supply recently,” Thomson said in a statement alongside the release. “Many of our 3,400 AIM members find the sand shifting constantly under their feet, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to plan for long-term growth.”
The most recent index aligns with a drop in national consumer confidence to a five-year low in April — the result of employer concerns about tariff, federal tax and spending policies.
Employer confidence in Massachusetts has dropped 14.1 points from January 2025, when the AIM index sat at 55.6 points.
