In Massachusetts, business confidence has returned to its highest level since President Trump took office in January of last year.
The Associated Industries of Massachusetts business confidence index rose for a fourth straight month in July, the employer group said on Wednesday, amid modest expansions in both the state and national economies. The index hit 52.7, in its second straight month in optimistic territory.
It had largely been stuck below 50, the breakpoint between a negative mood and an upbeat one, during the current Trump administration, in large part because of concerns around Trump’s unpredictable trade policies driving up costs.
The last time the index, which is calculated on a 100-point scale and based on a monthly poll of AIM members, was this high was in January 2025, when it was 55.6.
On Monday, a group of local economists that compile the periodic MassBenchmarks report, said the state’s economy grew at an annualized pace of 2 percent in the last quarter, compared to the US GDP growth of 1.5 percent in the same time period.
Sara Johnson, chair of AIM’s board of economic advisers, said the newfound optimism among Massachusetts employers is being driven by robust growth in business investment combined with consumer-spending gains. However, companies in the health care, technology, and advanced manufacturing fields continue to struggle to find workers, as the state’s labor force declines at a faster pace than the broader country.
Whether the optimism will continue remains to be seen. AIM chief executive Brooke Thomson said a new round of tariffs announced by Trump on July 24 could bring about the same kind of concerns that kept employers gloomy for most of the past two years. Trump’s tariffs, she says, have made long-term planning “virtually impossible” and has taken some overseas markets off the table for her members.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.
