New Hampshire Business Review - Jan. 17, 2025

Long COVID leads to lost wages, jobs, report says

Long COVID is not only a health issue for many Granite Staters, it has a direct effect on the New Hampshire economy. The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI) says in a new report local workers who reduced their hours due to long COVID may have lost an estimated $152.7 million in wages in 2022, while those who left the labor force entirely accounted for approximately $389.4 million in lost wages in 2022.

Massachusetts tech company moving to NH, bringing 500 jobs to Salem

A major health care and security technology company that’s been headquartered in Peabody, Mass., for almost 50 years is pulling up stakes and moving to Salem, N.H., bringing with it 500 jobs. Analogic Corp. is moving to 9 Northeastern Boulevard in Salem, needing more room for its research and manufacturing operations.

A six-figure middle class

To be considered middle class in 2019, a household in New Hampshire needed a minimum annual income of $83,151. By 2023, that jumped to $108,470, according to new data from ConsumerAffairs, a journal of consumer research. That latest bit of data gives New Hampshire the distinction of having the second highest middle-class threshold rank in the United States, trailing only its neighbor Massachusetts.

Net metering in limbo

Net metering allows customers to receive credit for excess electricity they generate and then add back to the electrical grid. The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission in an early December decision let net metering stand at its current rate but left no assurances of what the future — if any — there is for continuing net metering.