BOSTON, MA (April 22, 2025) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, reacts to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development’s announcement on unemployment rates of state metropolitan areas that will trigger an extension of unemployment benefits from 26 weeks to 30:

“The cracks in our broken unemployment insurance system are now becoming chasms,” said Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for NFIB. “This is yet another example of the Commonwealth’s outlier policies compounding a worsening UI crisis, as we are the ONLY state in the nation that allows recipients to collect 30 weeks of benefits.”

Today’s announcement from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development comes as another setback for Massachusetts employers, who are already paying some of the highest unemployment insurance taxes in the nation. Massachusetts businesses are currently repaying almost $5 billion in UI debt as a result of money borrowed from the federal government during the pandemic, $2.1 billion of which is attributable to an accounting error made by the state. Department of Unemployment Assistance projections anticipate the UI Trust Fund to be insolvent by 2028, with more than a $300 million deficit triggering the highest rate schedule for employers.

“Elected officials must act immediately to enact long overdue benefit and eligibility reforms to provide UI tax relief for overwhelmed small businesses,” continued Carlozzi. “Delaying is no longer an option; the UI system must be fixed now before it is beyond repair.”

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of NFIB’s radio and digital ad campaign urging legislators to reform the broken unemployment insurance system. For more on NFIB’s UI campaign visit ProtectMassachusettsSmallBusiness.org.

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For more than 80 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses, and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.