Immigrants nourish Central Mass. growth trends

States that have a large immigrant population are generally doing better than others. These people are in the workforce and spend their paychecks.    - - Donna Poisl

By Priyanka Dayal McCluskey

Fueled by an increase in immigrants, Central Massachusetts is growing more than twice as fast as the state as a whole.

But that population growth is coupled with challenges in the labor force, according to a report released yesterday by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Worcester and 60 surrounding communities in Worcester and Middlesex counties grew at an annual rate of 0.7 percent from 2000 through the Great Recession, while Massachusetts — one of the slowest-growing states in the country — grew just 0.3 percent annually.
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