Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Massachusetts Job Growth

There were 2,335,500 jobs in Boston, Massachusetts in April 2020 according to the CES survey of employers. The CPS survey of households showed 2,130,208 employed persons for the month. Boston lost 463,400 jobs in April 2020 according to the CES survey while the broader CPS measure of employment fell by 598,472 (Comparing CES and CPS employment numbers.). You can also compare Boston job growth to job growth in other cities.

Employment Survey	April 2020	Month/Month	Year/Year
CES	2,335,500	-463,400	-467,500
CPS	2,130,208	-598,472	-613,357

Note: The CPS survey data is now seasonally adjusted at the metropolitan level by with the new BLS SSA series.

Boston, Massachusetts Employment Changes

The charts below show the monthly job growth for Boston as measured by the CES and CPS surveys. To illustrate the trend, the 3 month moving average change in employment is shown in green.

CES Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

CPS Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

Total Employment for Boston, Massachusetts

CES employment for Boston peaked in February 2020 at 2,827,600. Since then 492,100 jobs have been lost in Boston according to the employer survey.

CPS employment reached a maximum of 2,776,599 for Boston in December 2019. 646,391 jobs have been lost in Boston since then according to the household survey.

Employment: CES, CPS

Boston, Massachusetts Employment History

Date	CES Employment	CES Month/Month	CPS Employment	CPS Month/Month
April 2020	2,335,500	-463,400	2,130,208	-598,472
March 2020	2,798,900	-28,700	2,728,680	-42,229
February 2020	2,827,600	4,600	2,770,909	-719
January 2020	2,823,000	10,600	2,771,628	-4,971
December 2019	2,812,400	-4,800	2,776,599	2,194
November 2019	2,817,200	3,700	2,774,405	3,198
October 2019	2,813,500	-1,400	2,771,207	4,042
September 2019	2,814,900	-2,900	2,767,165	5,029
August 2019	2,817,800	2,400	2,762,136	5,826
July 2019	2,815,400	4,600	2,756,310	5,574
June 2019	2,810,800	4,500	2,750,736	4,427
May 2019	2,806,300	3,300	2,746,309	2,744