March 2025 Employment Overview

• Professional, Scientific, and Business Services gained 2,900 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 4,200 were lost.

• Education and Health Services gained 1,700 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 10,100 were added.

• Trade, Transportation, and Utilities gained 600 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 4,800 were lost.

• Government gained 500 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 1,000 were added.

• Information gained 400 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 2,300 were lost.

• Financial Activities gained 400 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 100 were lost.

• Other Services gained 300 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 500 were lost.

• Manufacturing gained 100 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 2,800 were lost.

• Leisure and Hospitality lost 300 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 400 were lost.

• Construction lost 2,200 jobs over-the-month. Over-the-year, 7,100 were lost.

Detailed labor market information is available here.

Federal Updates

Trump Administration releases new Executive Order on Workforce

On April 23^rd, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future.”

The EO directs the Education Secretary, Labor Secretary and Commerce Secretary to review all federal workforce programs and report back to the President within 90 days. The review is a broad directive that requires the Secretary to examine several facets of the workforce:

• Examine opportunities to integrate systems and realign resources to address critical workforce needs and in-demand skills for emerging industries. Further, examine administrative reforms and process improvements.

• Identify federal programs that are ineffective or fail to reach desired outcomes, accompanied with a proposal for reform, redirection of spending or elimination.

• Promote innovation and system integration to pursue better employment outcomes for program participants

• Stresses important of AI in upskilling incumbent workers to meet demands of the future.

• Streamline information and data collection.

For the full text of the EO, please see here: Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future – The White House

Trump Administration releases “Skinny Budget” Proposal

The Trump Administration recently released their budget proposal for FY26.

While the details have not been released in their entirety, the budget does have several provisions outlined in the Education and Labor portion: (FY26 DOL Dept of Ed Skinny Budget.pdf).

The budget eliminates funding for Adult Education and Job Corps. Relative to WIOA, the budget includes a Make America Skilled Again (MASA) grant consolidation. Based on the released version, we expect their proposal would cut WIOA Title I significantly. The description includes an approach that would give States & locals more flexibility to spend workforce funds. The proposal does spend at least 10% on apprenticeships – which continues to be a focus of this Administration.

All in all, the FY26 Trump Administration proposal would cut 22%+ from the non-defense discretionary portion of the budget.

Trump’s budget will be vetted by Congress prior to being voted on, including Labor & Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittees which will develop their own budget. It is expected Congress will develop their own proposals throughout the summer.

The last funding mechanism that was passed funds the Federal Government

September 31, 2025. As this process works through Congress and we get closer to September, MWA will continue to monitor and work with our national partners.

MWA Visits DC to Advocate for "Commonsense" WIOA Reauthorization

MWA Executive Director Cole Angley, joined by Ron Iacobucci and Laura Buckley, pictured here, from the South Shore Workforce Board visited Washington D.C. in late March with the National Conference of Workforce Boards to advocate and educate the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation on WIOA Reauthorization.

Throughout the day, the group met with Congressman & Senate staff to explain the need for WIOA Reauthorization and the great work our Workforce Boards and Career Centers are doing across the Commonwealth.

To find WIOA Reauthorization resources provided by the National Association of Workforce Boards, see here: Advocacy Resources & Tools | NAWB

MWA Annual Member Summit 2025

The MWA was pleased to partner with the Cape and Islands Workforce Board to convene its membership for two days in April at the MWA Annual Summit. This dynamic gathering served as a platform for sharing insights, best practices and emerging trends.

We were fortunate to be joined by a variety of state and local leaders including Labor & Workforce Development Secretary Lauren Jones who kicked off our two-day event. We were also joined by Senator Julian Cyr, Representative Christopher Flanagan and the Board of Directors for the Cape and Islands Workforce Board.

We featured a panel on Upskilling and Training Strategies within Healthcare and on the award winning ArtWorks program. Each panel contained local champions of workforce development who work tirelessly with the Cape and Islands Workforce board.