Mass. Outpaces U.S. In Q2 Economic Growth

Two reports out Friday offer encouraging news for the Massachusetts economy.

MassBenchmarks, a report from the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute with the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, says the state's economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3 percent last quarter.

The Massachusetts growth rate easily outpaced the growth of the nation's economy, which expanded at a meager rate of 1.3 percent rate in the second quarter.

"We sell information technology, medical science and knowledge-based goods and services to other states and other countries, and those sectors have performed better than the U.S. economy as a whole," said Alan Clayton-Matthews, a Northeastern University economics professor and MassBenchmarks' editor.

It's the fourth consecutive quarter Massachusetts has outperformed the national economy.

MassBenchmarks says it expects Massachusetts growth to stay at similar levels through the end of the year.

Another forecast, from the Beacon Hill Institute, offers a more tempered prediction of just under 3 percent growth through the end of the year.

The Beacon Hill Institute report says it also expects the state to add 84,000 jobs by the end of 2011.