The Bay State’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported today that despite the loss of 6,000 census jobs, the state added a net 13,200 workers to its rolls in July, marking the sixth straight month of employment gains in Massachusetts. Read the full article

Owners of small businesses are upbeat about their own chances for success, yet most believe that we will still be in a recession a year from now. Read the full article

Late last year, Congress extended an $8,000 tax credit for new homebuyers and created a $6,500 credit for some existing homeowners who sell their old homes and buy new ones. These credits were originally available for houses purchased under contracts signed by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30, but new legislation may give a break to those who can’t meet the June 30 deadline. Read the full article

Yesterday the New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) held its Fall Economic Conference at the Boston Federal Reserve. Regional economists reported that they expect unemployment in New England to peak next year, despite improvements in the national economic outlook. Read the full article

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left its Federal Funds rate unchanged in a range of zero to 0.25% today; it also gave a few hints as to what would need to happen before it starts raising interest rates. Read the full article

Today I found a nice article at Smartmoney.com that summarizes several indicators that can help you make an educated guess as to whether housing prices in an area are likely to go up. Read the full article

Economists at the University of Massachusetts believe the state’s economy may have bottomed, but the indicators remain ambiguous. Read the full article

As the November 30th deadline for the $8,000 first-time homebuyers credit approaches, members of both the House and the Senate are floating ideas for ways to extend the credit. Read the full article

Bizjournals.com recently released its analysis of per capita income growth in the 100 largest US metro areas. Except for Bridgeport-Stamford, CT, Boston was the only metro area in New England ranked among the top 10 . Read the full article

Last week, the NPR show This American Life marked the anniversary of the housing-credit crisis by updating its entertaining report on the events that led to the collapse of the credit markets last year. Read the full article

The Federal Reserve’s latest “beige book” report offers a few encouragements on the state of the New England economy. Read the full article

Yesterday the Bureau of Labor Standards provided a CPI update through July 2009. Prices seem to be firming, but no clear pattern has yet emerged. Read the full article

For several years Massachusetts, like many states, has had a summer tax holiday weekend – sort of like Christmas in August. This year, the Grinch has come to the Bay State. Read the full article

The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), of which I’m a member, is launching a free consumer education webinar series this week. Read the full article

Probably we could have avoided last year’s economic crisis if only everyone had watched Saturday Night Live a few years ago. Read the full article

Yesterday the Brookings Institution released a report evaluating the effect of the Great Recession on employment and other economic indicators in the nation’s 100 largest cities. Even with a below-average showing for housing prices, Boston's economy doesn't look so bad in comparison to many other cities. Read the full article

At the height of the credit market crisis last year, there were loud calls for dramatic changes in the regulation of financial institutions. Now that the sturm und drang has ceased, the reforms that will be realized will be much tamer. Read the full article

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its report today on changes in New England region prices for May 2009. Read the full article

The IRS announced last week that its interpretation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is that new car buyers in states without a sales tax deserve a break this year. Read the full article

The Federal Reserve Bank’s “Beige Book,” issued eight times a year, was released this week. The outlook for New England is uncertain, with few bright spots. Read the full article

Here’s the test of whether you're a true contrarian: would you buy a Chrysler today? Read the full article

With the economy still in the doldrums, doing a home renovation could be an excellent idea. It’s a bit counter-intuitive, but hear me out. Read the full article

Each year the trustees of the Social Security/Medicare trusts are required to report on the status of the trust funds. Last month, having included the effects of the recession in their projections, they released a new report. The news is not good. Read the full article

A couple of items at the Calculated Risk blog caught my eye today; both suggest that mortgage rates might well be headed higher. Read the full article

Yesterday I attended the spring New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) conference, held semiannually by the nonprofit economic research group that studies the region's economy. They were optimistically cautious. Read the full article

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