FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOSTON, MA (May 7, 2025) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization with thousands of members across the Commonwealth, strongly reiterated its call for Beacon Hill lawmakers to fix the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund debt crisis and reform the system for the future. NFIB State Director Christopher Carlozzi urged elected officials to look to New York for inspiration, where Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders announced on Monday an agreement for repaying the roughly $6.5 billion debt in the Empire State’s UI trust fund to the federal government.

“Start spreading the news! In New York this week, NFIB applauded Governor Kathy Hochul and its legislative  leaders for coming to agreement to pay off New York’s outstanding federal UI debt, which will save Main Street from higher UI taxes and assessments, providing much needed relief to small business owners who through no fault of their own have dealt with the financial and economic fallout from the pandemic,” said Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for NFIB. “Will Governor Healey propose something similar? Massachusetts needs to help provide relief for employers by at least covering the $2.1B state error.

“Our broken unemployment insurance system urgently needs fixing, and the time to do it is now before the next economic slowdown,” said Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for NFIB. “Massachusetts lawmakers must take similar action as New York has now done and not simply lump the problem onto small businesses. The Commonwealth’s outlier policies on eligibility and benefits further compounds our worsening UI crisis, as for example we are the ONLY state in the nation that allows recipients to collect 30 weeks of benefits.”

Massachusetts employers 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.

NFIB’s recently conducted a radio and digital ad campaign urging legislators to reform the state’s broken unemployment insurance system. For more on NFIB’s UI campaign visit ProtectMassachusettsSmallBusiness.org.

###

For over 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.