By Richard Doherty
Massachusetts received some good news late last week when the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported unemployment levels in the Bay State had fallen for the first time since June 2007. But while hiring still remains elusive overall, two sectors — health care and education — created new jobs, demonstrating once again their critical value to the state’s economy.

As employers, our state’s private colleges employ nearly 100,000 with salary and benefits of $7 billion. The private colleges generate more than $23 billion in direct economic activity for the commonwealth. They attract nearly $2.5 billion in federal and sponsored research dollars. And they create thousands of jobs annually for the construction industry as they build new labs and academic buildings.
 
As Massachusetts climbs out of the recession, the contributions and engagement of our private higher education sector cannot be understated or overlooked.