A new report puts Massachusetts politicians on notice — get a grip on housing costs and taxes or the state is in for a world of hurt.

According to a policy brief from the Pioneer Institute, while nearly every state has expanded private sector employment since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Massachusetts has seen a net decline in private sector job growth. This puts the state’s economic health and long-term prosperity at serious risk.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that Massachusetts’ private sector employment has contracted since January 2020, while states such as Florida, North Carolina, and Texas have each seen private sector job growth.

“The nation is growing jobs, but we are losing them,” said Jim Stergios, Pioneer Institute’s executive director. “There is no clearer — and no more troubling — economic signal.”

And Mass. pols need to sit up and take notice — without more private sector jobs, who’s going to pay all those public sector salaries? A look at the mass.gov website shows that in January of this year, 1,100 government jobs were added, while 5,400 were added over the year.

Must be nice.

Of course, you’d need a government job with a plush paycheck to afford the housing costs and high prices in Massachusetts. The outlook for the rest of us isn’t so good if these trends continue.

The Pioneer Institute warns of far-reaching implications, including rising economic inequality, reduced opportunities for residents, diminished investment and innovation, and an increasing outmigration of talent and businesses to states with stronger job markets and lower costs of living.

That’s already happening. We’ve read the reports on outmigration from the Bay State to lower-cost, lower-tax states.

Who can blame them? In Raleigh, NC, a roomy 1-bedroom will set you back $1,275. Try that in Boston. State taxes are lower there, too.

How can Massachusetts compete?

“To secure a prosperous future, we need bold, decisive action to create an economic environment that allows both individuals and businesses to thrive,” said Aidan Enright, who wrote Massachusetts at Risk: The Alarming Decline of Private Sector Employment Growth  for the Pioneer Institute.

That means, Enright says, tax reform, regulatory improvements, strategic workforce investments, and aggressive housing development policies.

We’ve had aggressive housing policies recently, but they involved securing shelter spaces around the state for the influx of immigrants under the Biden administration and homeless local families. We paid about $1 billion to cover the costs in fiscal year 2024, and some $520 million so far in fiscal year 2025.

As the number of private sector workers shrink, that puts even  more of a squeeze on the state’s remaining taxpayers. This news couldn’t come at a worse time, as a Wall Street Journal report underscored how fiscally damaging empty office buildings in Boston could be to the city’s bottom line.

“Continued downward pressure on commercial values would shift more than $1 billion of Boston’s tax burden to homeowners over the next five years, according to a report from the nonprofit Boston Policy Institute,” the WSJ report states. “Those increases would be on top of additional tax hikes many owners face because their homes have risen in value.”

The writing’s on the wall: Massachusetts lawmakers need to act fast to keep the Bay State from sinking.

Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel (Creators Syndicate)