Why workers are leaving Massachusetts

Driving the news: The report from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation found that a long-term decline in births and an aging population is also shrinking the Massachusetts workforce.

• Plus, remote workers don't want to live in such a high-cost area if they don't have to.
• And when commuters do need to get to work, they are met with poor roads and an aging train system.

Zoom out: Northeast states lost over half a million residents to cheaper, warmer states in the South and West, according to MTF.

• Florida and Texas were the top states to relocate to, according to the report.
• International immigration into the Northeast is slowing down, with under 300,000 immigrants coming to the region during the pandemic, while nearly 2.5 million relocated to the South.

Zoom in: Alarmingly, the study found that Massachusetts now ranks only 5th in the country for the number of computer and mathematical positions per 1,000 jobs.

• Virginia, Washington, Maryland and Colorado all rank higher, with states like Utah, Arizona and North Carolina rising.