Burlington Coronavirus: Town Is Home To Hardest-Hit Industries

BURLINGTON, MA — Burlington is home to large concentrations of the four Massachusetts industries hardest hit by the new coronavirus, according to a new study by the Pioneer Institute. The town has the sixth-most construction workers of any municipality in the state, and also ranks in the top 15 in health care, retail and hospitality.

Those four industries have suffered the most unemployment due to the outbreak, according to the institute's analysis of state unemployment data. Together, they make up more than half of the unemployment claims filed in March.

Burlington has thousands of people working in each profession. The largest number, 8,579, work in the health care industry, according to 2018 data gathered by the Institute. That ranks 15th among all municipalities in the states.

The town comes in sixth with 2,461 construction jobs, and 5,713 jobs are at stake in the retail sector. Hospitality, which includes restaurants and hotels, accounts for 3,839 Burlington jobs.

Together, over 20,000 Burlington jobs are in the four hardest-hit sectors. The full study is available here.

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Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.