In this report for the Massachusetts Department of Economic Research, we worked to understand the drivers behind the declining labor force participation rate in the state. We utilized data from the American Community Survey to run a descriptive analysis of the labor force in Massachusetts and create a logistic regression model to evaluate factors that impact and individual’s decision to join the labor force.

We find that labor force participation has remained steady post-COVID with Asian individuals entering the labor force and Black individuals leaving it highlighting significant racial shifts in the labor force. The logistic regression also confirms that racial minorities, migrants and individuals with lower incomes are less inclined to join the labor force.