Results From a Survey of Over 140 Massachusetts Employers
Massachusetts employers sure are worried about tariffs.
The Associated Industries of Massachusetts reported Wednesday that its latest business confidence reading revealed a sharp decrease in optimism among local employers, fueled in large part by newly effective tariffs on major American trading partners.
The monthly index barely remained in optimistic territory, at 50.4 on a 100-point scale, but the 5.2 point decline was the largest month-over-month drop since March 2020, the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A number of survey participants expressed concern about the prospect of tariffs imposed on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, as well as the potential effect of retaliatory tariffs,” said AIM Board of Economic Advisors Sara Johnson. “Employers were less optimistic about prospects for their own companies, and they turned pessimistic about the business environment in Massachusetts and the rest of the country.”
The survey of more than 140 Massachusetts employers reflected sentiment in February, when President Donald Trump was threatening sizable tariffs. Those tariffs — 25 percent on Canada and Mexico — took effect Tuesday, a move opponents argue will raise prices for Americans already struggling with affordability issues.
The 50.4 point measurement for February is 4.1 points lower than one year ago.
Another shift that looms as a concern for the business group is the prospect of cuts to the National Institutes of Health, which funds swaths of research across several industries key to the Massachusetts economy.
“NIH funding plays a vital role in Massachusetts, providing billions of dollars to support our world-renowned hospitals, research institutions, and universities,” said AIM President Brooke Thomson. “In Fiscal Year 2024 alone, Massachusetts received $3.46 billion in NIH funding, distributed across 219 organizations working to develop treatments for cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, advance biotechnology for organ transplants, combat the opioid crisis, and much more.”
