[SeekAndFind]

RE: This from the guy that turned Massachusetts into Taxachusetts and FeeAchusetts.

Since we’re talking about unemployment in this thread... what was the unemployment rate of MA when Romney was governor? Higher than national average, lower, or the same?

[SoConPubbie]

Since we’re talking about unemployment in this thread... what was the unemployment rate of MA when Romney was governor? Higher than national average, lower, or the same?

From an article by Deroy Murdock in the American Spectator:

"Our analysis reveals a weak comparative economic performance of the state over the Romney years, one of the worst in the country," the researchers wrote in the Boston Globe. Specifically, they found:

* As U.S. real output grew 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, Massachusetts trailed at 9 percent.

* Manufacturing employment fell 7 percent nationwide those years, but sank 14 percent under Romney, placing Massachusetts 48th among the states.

* Between fall 2003 and autumn 2006, U.S. job growth averaged 5.4 percent, nearly three times Massachusetts' anemic 1.9 percent pace.

* While 8 million Americans over age 16 found work between 2002 and 2006, the number of employed Massachusetts residents actually declined by 8,500 during those years.

"Massachusetts was the only state to have failed to post any gain in its pool of employed residents," professors Sum and McLaughlin concluded.