October 14, 2025
CommonWealth Beacon recently featured Mark Williams, Master Lecturer of Finance in an episode of The Codcast, where he discussed Massachusetts’s growing risk of recession by Q3 2026 amid federal spending cuts, immigration crackdowns, and the ongoing government shutdown.
Williams explained that the shutdown is deepening economic uncertainty as furloughed federal workers lose income, reducing spending, slowing growth, and threatening broader stability. He warned that without swift action from state lawmakers to rein in spending and support the immigrant workforce vital to Massachusetts’s economy, the state could face a sharp downturn.
“The shutdown itself is interesting because it is just a layer that creates additional uncertainty in the economy of the state of Massachusetts, and then also the U.S. economy and globally,” Williams said.
Even tapping the state’s “rainy day” fund would provide only temporary relief, potentially draining reserves without solving the underlying fiscal pressures. Williams also highlighted increasing instability in federal employment, noting that layoffs under the Trump administration’s Department of Governmental Efficiency have made once-secure public sector jobs “risky and unpredictable.”
