Bay State job growth hits fifth straight month

Massachusetts added 2,600 jobs in January, the fifth straight month the state has added more than 2,500 jobs — prompting optimism from economists.

"Finally we've reached escape velocity from the recession," said Robert Nakosteen, an economist and professor at UMass Amherst. "All systems seem to be go."

The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development said yesterday the economy added 2,600 jobs in January, with six of nine sectors seeing job growth. Some of the largest gains came in the trade, transportation, utilities, and construction sectors.

The last time the state lost jobs was in August, but even that decline was largely explained by economists as a ripple effect of the temporary Market Basket kerfuffle.

"The indications are that the trends are moving in the right direction," said Ronald Walker, secretary of the department. "There are indications that jobless residents who had given up are now feeling more confident about finding a job."

The labor force also grew in January, a sign that people are feeling more confident about their chances of getting a job. Still, Massachusetts has room for more improvement, Nakosteen said.

"We still have a ways to go before we have a real, healthy, tight labor market," he said. "If the trajectory we're on continues even through the rest of the year, and I think there's a good chance it will, I think you'll see that start to turn around."

The unemployment rate also fell 0.2, to 5.1 percent, the lowest the rate has been since May 2008.

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Study: Boston renter spending at $12.2 billion

Metro Boston's apartment industry has been a boon to the local economy, emerging as one of the strongest sectors to come out of the Great Recession, according to a new study.

"In the darkest depths of the downturn in 2007-08, a lot of developers knew Boston is still a desirable place to live," said Greg Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. "It's smaller than New York, but becoming more cosmopolitan. It's not far from the beach and from great shopping. And it's easy to get around without a car."

Apartment construction and operations as well as renter spending contributed $17.7 billion locally and supported more than 147,000 jobs in the metro area in 2013, the most recent year for which statistics were available, according to research commissioned by the National Multifamily Housing Council and the National Apartment Association.

"It's the volume of what it means to the economy in terms of jobs and money that comes back into the community," Vasil said.

At $12.2 billion, renter spending accounted for the vast majority of the contribution to the local economy, followed by apartment operations at $2.8 billion and apartment construction at $2.7 billion, the study found.

Vasil summed up the driving force behind the rental boom in one word: demand. The city's positive features contributed to an influx of Millennials into the rental market, many of whom went to college here and decided to stay, he said.

And the rental boom has not been confined to the city.

Statewide, the apartment industry and renters contributed $21.4 billion to the economy and supported 189,500 jobs, the study found, while nationally, they contributed $1.3 trillion and supported 12.3 million jobs.

But in Boston, which a Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland study called the fastest-gentrifying city in the nation, many of the apartments being built are beyond the grasp of low- and middle-income people, said Kathy Brown, coordinator of the Boston Tenant Coalition.

"The overwhelming majority of apartments being built has been on the luxury side," Brown said. "So it's not low- and middle-income people who are benefiting from this boom. Instead, they're being pushed out of the communities they grew up in."

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European stocks rebound after Wall Street inspired sell-off

LONDON — European markets rebounded strongly Wednesday from a big sell-off when investors fretted over a looming U.S. interest rate hike.

KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, Germany's DAX was up 1.7 percent at 11,697 while the CAC-40 in France rose 1.8 percent to 4,971. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares underperformed its peers, trading only 0.1 percent higher at 6,708. Wall Street was poised for a solid opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent.

ANALYST TAKE: "Bargain hunters appear to be out in force, as once again corrections in equity markets are being viewed as buying opportunities," said Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG. "Yesterday's triple-digit falls seen in European equity markets appear to have been quickly forgotten, with many viewing this as a buying opportunity rather than a precursor to tougher times."

FED FEARS: On Tuesday, stocks in Europe and the U.S. took a battering as investors worried about the prospect of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike in nine years. Those odds got a boost after recent data revealed a strengthening job market. Low interest rates and other monetary stimulus have supported stocks for several years but a rate hike from the Fed will foreshadow a return to more levels for credit costs.

EURO SLIDE: The euro has been one of the financial assets most affected by the prospect of higher U.S. rates. That's because the European Central Bank is embarking on a distinctly different path. On Monday, months after the Fed brought its last stimulus to an end the ECB started buying certain government bonds in the markets. The hope is the 18-month 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.12 trillion) monetary stimulus will shore up the economic recovery in the 19-country eurozone and get inflation back into the system. On Wednesday, it fell to $1.0560, its lowest level since April, 2003. "The next target sits at 1.0500 the March 2003 lows and it remains a very short hop from there to parity," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

CHINA FOCUS: Investors examined the latest batch of monthly economic data on China for clues on the state of the world's No. 2 economy. Industrial output for January and February rose 6.8 percent, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The number was less than analysts expected. Retail sales and fixed-asset investment also disappointed. China's economy is expected to slow further after growing 7.4 percent last year, the lowest growth rate in nearly a quarter-century. The government issues the figures for both months together to smooth out distortions from Lunar New Year, which can fall in either month.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 0.3 percent to close at 18,723.52, getting some relief from the regional down trend as the dollar strengthened against the yen. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.2 percent to 1,980.83 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.8 percent to 23,717.97. The Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China swung between gains and losses before edging up 0.2 to close at 3,290.90.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose, climbing 18 cents to $48.47 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, rose 44 cents to $57.32 in London.

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3 workers killed in West Texas oil field rig explosion

RANKIN, Texas — An oil field rig has exploded in West Texas, killing three workers.

Investigator Dusty Kilgore of the Upton County Sheriff's Office said the accident happened Tuesday morning at a well site near Rankin, about 40 miles south of Midland.

Kilgore says one other person working at the well survived the blast and was not taken to a hospital.

He did not release the names of those killed.

The well is owned by Parsley Energy of Midland. Kilgore said a pulling unit crew was working at the site when the explosion happened, but he provided no other details.

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Selfie stick bans go into effect at French, UK attractions

PARIS — "Selfie sticks" have now been banned at a French palace and a British museum, joining a growing list of global tourist attractions to take such measures.

The devices are used to improve snapshots, but critics say they are obnoxious and potentially dangerous. Officials at Palace of Versailles outside Paris, and Britain's National Gallery in London, announced the bans Wednesday, saying they need to protect artworks and other visitors.

Other places that have put limits on the selfie-stick craze:

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FRANCE

Unlike Versailles, the Louvre and Centre Georges Pompidou art museums have not banned selfie sticks — yet. The Pompidou — the contemporary art museum whose exterior of colorful tubes and scaffolding looks like a building turned inside out — is studying what, if anything, needs to be done about the phenomenon, Le Monde reported.

Musee d'Orsay, which houses an Impressionist art collection, bans not just selfie sticks, but any photography whatsoever.

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ITALY

Rome's Colosseum banned selfie sticks last month as a security measure, both for the objects on exhibit inside and for the 16,000 daily visitors to the 2,000-year-old monument.

"The twirling around of hundreds of sticks can become unwittingly dangerous," Colosseum spokesman Christiano Brughitta said.

Two American tourists were arrested last week after carving their names into the Colosseum's wall — and then taking a photo with a selfie stick.

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UNITED STATES

The Smithsonian museums in Washington banned selfie sticks last week. Cameras and pictures are still allowed, but selfie sticks, tripods and monopods are not. Smithsonian officials say this is a preventative measure to protect visitors and museum objects.

Other U.S. museums that ban selfie sticks include the Art Institute of Chicago, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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AUSTRIA

Vienna's Albertina, one of the city's top art museums, prohibits selfie sticks. Museum spokeswoman Sarah Wulbrandt says visitors must check-in the sticks before entering.

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BRITAIN

Besides the National Gallery, some English soccer teams have banned the selfie stick from their stadiums.

The National Portrait Gallery, adjacent to the National Gallery, says the sticks are allowed, but "anything that may prove disruptive is reviewed on an ongoing basis." The British Museum is "currently reviewing" its selfie-stick policy.

Some art-lovers praised the idea of a ban.

"If you go into an exhibition, surely the purpose is to see what is on show and not to take umpteen photographs of yourself?" said Bill Doig, a retired doctor visiting the National Portrait Gallery.

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BRAZIL

Soccer stadiums in the South American country have also banned selfie sticks because of their potential use as weapons in fights between rival fans, police say. Selfie sticks were also banned from Brazil's recent Carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro.

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Jill Lawless in London, Bradley Brooks in Rio de Janeiro, George Jahn in Vienna, Beth Harpaz in New York, and Trisha Thomas in Rome contributed to this report.

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Follow Greg Keller on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Greg_Keller

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State jobless rate falls to 5.1 percent in January

BOSTON — The Massachusetts unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in more than six years in January as the state gained an estimated 2,600 jobs.

The office of Labor and Workforce Development announced Tuesday that the January jobless rate of 5.1 percent was down two-tenths of a point from the previous month.

The latest report shows Massachusetts has picked up an estimated 56,000 private sector jobs in the last 12 months, with gains in all sectors of the economy except for manufacturing.

The January unemployment rate was the lowest since May 2008.

The national jobless rate stood at 5.7 percent in January and dropped to 5.5 percent in February.

Massachusetts will release its February jobs figures later this month.

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Early Look: How does Apple Watch stack up vs rival watches?

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple made a strong case for how you can use its upcoming Apple Watch, and the device stacks up well against the competition.

If you've waited for the Apple Watch to decide on a smartwatch, here are some things to consider in weighing whether you really need one. You'll need an iPhone 5 or newer, while the rival watches will typically work only with Android.

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PRICE

Apple Watch is among the most expensive on the market. You can get an Android smartwatch from Motorola or Sony for $250. You can get a high-end Samsung Gear S with its own cellular connectivity for $300 through AT&T, plus the monthly cost of a data plan.

The cheapest Apple Watch is $349, and that's designed for fitness enthusiasts. A stainless-steel version for everyday wear starts at $549. A luxury edition with 18-karat gold starts at $10,000 and can cost as much as $17,000.

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DEPENDENT ON THE PHONE

Apple Watch doesn't have its own cellular connection. You can make and receive phone calls and messages only if your iPhone is nearby. That said, with the exception of Samsung's Gear S and the upcoming LG Watch Urbane LTE, most other smartwatches don't have cellular service, either.

Apple Watch also doesn't have GPS for better distance tracking; Sony's SmartWatch 3 and the Gear S do. Then again, GPS is rare in smartwatches. Apple Watch will use your phone's GPS to learn your running pattern and calibrate its built-in accelerometer for better tracking the next time you go for a run and leave your phone at home.

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SHAPE

Apple is offering different sizes, colors, materials and bands, but all of the watches have rectangular faces. Motorola's Moto 360 and LG's G Watch R are among those with round faces.

Apple has a good reason, though. Round faces are fine for graphical content, such as photos and maps, but they are inefficient for text. There's a lot of wasted space on all four sides, resulting in a watch that's bigger than it needs to be. (Another plus for Apple: All models come in a smaller size, which might fit better on women's hands.)

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APPS, APPS, APPS

This is by far Apple's biggest strength. At Monday's event Apple demonstrated using the watch to request a ride through Uber, open a garage door remotely using Alarm.com and bypass the front desk when checking in at a Starwood hotel. Expect a robust offering of apps when Apple Watch goes on sale next month.

With other watches, developers have been slow to release apps given how relatively few smartwatches have been sold.

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MOBILE PAY

Apple Watch has mobile pay capabilities, as Apple Pay is integrated. Pay with a tap of your wrist at any of the nearly 700,000 locations Apple Pay is accepted. I've yet to see a similar capability in other smartwatches, even though some have NFC wireless technology for such payments. Samsung is coming out with its own payment service, Samsung Pay, but the Gear S doesn't have NFC.

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CUSTOMIZE THE WATCH FACE

With Apple Watch, once you pick the look of the watch face, you can sometimes choose the types of content to embed, such as weather or stock quotes. With existing smartwatches, you're typically limited to how the display looks.

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CONTROLS

Use the Apple Watch dial, known as the digital crown, to zoom in on a map or scroll down text. You still need to tap on the screen to slide a map or photo around, but the dial reduces how often your finger blocks the screen. Many smartwatches on the market have buttons that merely turn on the display and make menu selections.

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BATTERY LIFE

Apple says the battery should last 18 hours on a single charge. That's less than the typical smartwatch, though few go more than 24 hours. Sony's SmartWatch 3 is among the exceptions, promising two days. Though I didn't always get that much, the Sony watch offered enough for me to occasionally sleep with it on. (If you're using an app that monitors your sleep patterns, your best bet is a fitness tracker that can go several days on a charge.)

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GESTURES

The Apple Watch display is usually "sleeping" to save the battery. As soon as you lift your arm, the display automatically turns on. Many other smartwatches do that too. Where Apple Watch stands out is in detecting how long you have your arm up. At first glance, you might see that a message has arrived. Hold it longer and the full message appears.

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DOESN'T JUST REPEAT THE PHONE

Many smartwatches merely repeat notifications that appear on your phone, and notifications sometimes linger even after you've viewed them on your phone, tablet or PC. Apple says it will do a better job of coordinating that: If a notification appears on the watch, the phone in your pocket will know not to bug you with a vibration.

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So, do you need Apple Watch?

Apple Watch can do a lot — more than rival watches and probably more than you need it to do — so you'll need to decide which features and apps you'll find convenient. Ultimately, it comes down to how willing you are to pay for that convenience.

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Lawsuit seeks strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions

BOSTON — Lawyers representing four teenagers and an environmental advocacy group are asking a judge to order Massachusetts regulators to begin adopting strict limits on the emissions of greenhouse gases.

Lawyers for the Conservation Law Foundation and the Boston and Wellesley teenagers argued Monday in Suffolk County Superior Court that the state has failed to live up to its 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act.

The group said the law requires the Department of Environmental Protection to set greenhouse gas emissions limits to help the state meet its goal of reducing those emissions by 25 percent by 2020 — and by 80 percent by 2050.

"The DEP has completely failed," said Dylan Sanders, the lawyer representing the teenagers.

A focus of the lawsuit was a portion of the 2008 law that requires the DEP to create "regulations establishing a desired level of declining annual aggregate emission limits for sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gas emissions."

Sanders said that the section of the law — by using the word "limits" — requires the DEP to create specific limits, not simply outline more general targets or goals.

"There is no such thing as an aspirational limit," Sanders said. He said he is representing the four teenagers because they will have to live with the consequences of the failure to address climate change.

A lawyer representing the state instead focused on the portion of the law calling on the DEP to set "a desired level of declining" emission limits.

Assistant Attorney General Jo Ann Shotwell Kaplan said the law requires the DEP to set up regulations that help track the emissions — which she said the department already has done — but doesn't require the DEP to create strict limits on each specific source of greenhouse gas.

"We think it's very clear," she said.

During the court hearing, Judge Robert Gordon asked whether the stricter reading of the 2008 law would essentially require the state to put some kind of ceiling on the manufacture of cars since tailpipe emissions are a major source of greenhouses gases.

Jennifer Rushlow, a lawyer representing the Conservation Law Foundation, said they aren't pushing for a ceiling on the number of cars — and said an increased use of alternative fuel and hybrid cars could help the state meet the emissions limits.

Kaplan said it would be impossible to meet the stricter limits envisioned by the lawsuit without limiting the number of cars in Massachusetts.

The meaning of the 2008 law is being debated as the state continues to hash out its renewable energy goals.

Last month, Gov. Charlie Baker joined with the governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island to look for ways to increase the region's reliance on renewable energy.

Under the plan, electric distribution companies in the three states will collaborate with local agencies to begin a competitive bidding process to seek proposals from suppliers of clean energy resources including wind, solar, small hydro, biomass, fuel cells and other non-carbon emitting sources.

The Baker administration said Monday it is committed to the installation of at least 1,600 megawatts of solar energy in Massachusetts by 2020.

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Obama aims to clamp down on federal student loan servicers

WASHINGTON — More than 40 million Americans are in debt thanks to their education, and most of their loans come from Uncle Sam. So President Barack Obama is aiming to clamp down on the private companies that service federal student debt with a presidential memorandum he signed Tuesday.

Obama's policy tweaks don't require new legislation from Congress — a plus as far as the White House is concerned. But they won't be earth-shattering for student-borrowers, either. Instead, the new steps seek to tilt the student lending process more toward the student, with a particular focus on graduates struggling to make their monthly payments.

"It's an executive action we're able to take to streamline and improve the manner in which the federal government interacts with students when it comes to student loans," Obama said as he signed the memo in the Oval Office.

Minutes later, the president departed the White House for Atlanta, where Obama was to showcase the new steps during a visit to Georgia Tech.

Obama's memorandum targets third parties like Sallie Mae/Navient that contract with the government to collect on federal student debt. Those companies will be required to better inform borrowers about their repayment options and notify them when they are delinquent on payments, the White House said.

The president is also instructing the government to create a website where students can see all their federal loans in one place — a major problem for students with multiple loans, as well as those whose loans have been sold by one lender to another. He's also asking for a single website where borrowers can file complaints about loan servicers, in an apparent recognition that customer service for student borrowers has often been shoddy in the past.

Although Obama has long lamented the burden placed on young Americans and the broader economy by student debt and college affordability, he's run into obstacles that have limited his efforts to improve the situation.

Using his executive authority, Obama expanded a federal loan repayment plan to allow more low-income Americans to cap their monthly payments at an affordable percentage of their income. But when Obama this year proposed to eliminate the so-called "529" college savings plan to make way for education tax benefits, opposition was so strong that he had to jettison the idea. And the president's State of the Union pitch this year for two years of free community college for every eligible American has gained little traction in the Republican-controlled Congress.

Obama will also direct federal agencies like the Education Department and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to determine whether more government rules are needed to keep student loan servicers in line. His memo also requires those companies to apply early payments from borrowers to loans with the highest interest rates, which could help students pay off their debt sooner.

Obama was to detail his student loan priorities during his trip to Georgia, where the president will also headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee. Roughly 25 donors paid up to $33,400 to attend the private event at an Atlanta hotel.

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Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.

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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

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US job openings reach a 14-year high, and more workers quit

WASHINGTON — U.S. employers advertised the most jobs in 14 years in January, and more workers quit — both signs of a steadily strengthening job market.

The Labor Department says job openings rose 2.5 percent to nearly 5 million, the most since January 2001. The number of people quitting their jobs increased 3 percent to 2.8 million, the most in more than six years.

More quits are generally a sign of confidence in the economy, because people typically leave their jobs when they have another one lined up, often at higher pay, or are optimistic that they can find a new position.

The figures follow another strong monthly jobs report released Friday. Employers added 295,000 jobs in February, extending a robust streak of hiring that began last year.

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