Employer confidence in Massachusetts climbed to its highest level since before the Great Recession in December 2014, according to Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM).

The Bay State ended 2014 with the AIM Business Confidence Index (BCI) at 57.3, 7.1 points above last December’s level and its highest point since July 2007.

"Fundamentals are looking much better – unemployment is down and job creation is running strong nationally and in Massachusetts, which shows up in rising consumer confidence; the federal deficit and the trade deficit are shrinking; and of course the stock market has done well," Raymond G. Torto, chair of AIM’s board of economic advisors (BEA) and a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, said in a statement.

AIM’s analysts projected that this confidence combined with the strengthening economy "may finally make the recovery feel like a recovery in 2015."

"For the second half of 2014, twice as many employers report increasing their staff (34 percent) as cutting jobs (17 percent); and expectations are likewise positive for the first half of 2015 (33 percent – 9 percent)," Alan Clayton-Matthews, professor at the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, a BEA member, said in a statement.

The AIM Index is based on a survey of Massachusetts employers and calculated on a 100-point scale. It reached a historic high of 68.5 twice in 1997 and 1998, and hit an all-time low of 33.3 in February 2009.