Massachusetts. Executive Office of Economic Affairs

In Massachusetts the Executive Office of Manpower Affairs was established in 1969; it was informally renamed Executive Office of Economic Affairs in 1975, and after a period in which it was also known as the Executive Office of Economic Development and Manpower Affairs, its name was legislatively changed to Executive Office of Economic Affairs in 1987.

The Executive Office of Economic Affairs, formerly Manpower Affairs, had the policy objectives of full employment and economic growth in Massachusetts, to be achieved through workforce development including assistance to the unemployed and underemployed and job training, and assistance to and promotion of industry and tourism.

The Executive Office of Manpower Affairs was established per St 1969, c 704, s 3, as part of a new gubernatorial cabinet system, comprising the following state agencies: the Dept. of Labor and Industries (including the Division of Employment Security, State Advisory Council and Board of Review, Division of Industrial Accidents, Industrial Accident Rehabilitation Board, and Labor Relations Commission, but excluding some others), the Minimum Wage Commission, Investment Board, and Commission on Employment of the Handicapped.

The executive office acquired the Dept. of Commerce and Development per Exec Order 96, 1973 (per St 1969, c 704, s 50A), transferred from the Executive Office of Communities and Development; the Technical Assistance Strike Force, per St 1974, c 692 (repealed by 1987, c 525, s 2); and the Board of Conciliation and Arbitration, detached from the Dept. of Labor and Industries and reestablished as a separate agency, per Exec Order 198, 1981, correcting St 1981, c 351, s 235, which inadvertently assigned it to a non-existent Executive Office of Labor and Consumer Affairs.

The Executive Office of Manpower Affairs was reconstituted by St 1982, c 668, which also established the Executive Office of Labor. The concerns of the state's employed workforce were assigned to the latter, to which were transferred the Dept. of Labor and Industries (except for the Division of Employment Security and State Advisory Council and Board of Review), the Minimum Wage Commission, and the Board of Conciliation and Arbitration. The Executive Office of Manpower Affairs, focusing on industrial development and unemployment concerns, retained the Dept. of Commerce and Development, Division of Employment Security (Dept. of Employment and Training per St 1990, c 177, s 13), State Advisory Council and Board of Review, Investment Board, and Commission on Employment of the Handicapped (Commission on Employment of People with Disabilities, per St 1990, c 456, s 7)

From 1977 through 1988 the General Court Manual listed the office as the Executive Office of Economic Development and Manpower Affairs (including also, from 1977 through 1984, a Dept. of Manpower Development), and in 1975 its secretary had, without statutory authority, begun to use the name Executive Office of Economic Affairs. The first legislative attempt to rename the office failed (1979 H 6825), but eventually the office was redesignated by the name in current usage (St 1987, c 525). By this legislation, the Dept. of Commerce and Development was replaced by separate agencies, the Massachusetts Office of Business Development, Office of Travel and Tourism, Office of Film and Video Development, Office of Science and Technology, Office of International Trade and Investment, and Office of Minority and Women Business Development and Employment. St 1991, c 193, s 2 transferred to the office the Division of Energy Resources, formerly in the Executive Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

The Executive Office of Economic Affairs was abolished and its constituent agencies redistributed per St 1996, c 57, s 6.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agencies described above can be found by searching the following access points for the time period stated: 1969-1975--Massachusetts. Executive Office of Manpower Affairs; 1975-1996--Massachusetts. Executive Office of Economic Affairs.