Since November 2001, the end of the most recent recession, the economy has created more than 7 million new jobs — increasing employment by more than 5 percent. Although this growth is not especially strong relative to past recoveries, and weak wage growth shows that the labor market is far from strong, it is growth.
However, the growth has not been evenly distributed throughout the country. Three states, in fact, have lost jobs since the recession ended: Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio. Massachusetts, though it has not yet broken even with November 2001 jobs levels, has seen consistent job growth since January 2004.
But Michigan and Ohio have continued to lose jobs. The problem, not surprisingly, is in manufacturing. Michigan and Ohio have lost 159,000 and 136,000 manufacturing jobs, respectively, since November 2001 (see table below). Ohio's losses add up to just under 15 percent of the state's manufacturing jobs, while Michigan has lost about 20 percent — or one in five — of such jobs. Only California, a much bigger state, has lost a greater number of manufacturing jobs.
Job change by state since the end of the recession, November 2001-May 2007 | ||||||
Total non-farm job change (in thousands) |
Percent change |
Manufacturing job change (in thousands) |
Percent change |
|||
UNITED STATES |
6,948 |
5.3% |
-1,777 |
-11.2% |
||
NORTHEAST |
530 |
2.1% |
-465 |
-17.1% |
||
New England |
67 |
1.0% |
-146 |
-17.0% |
||
Maine |
12 |
2.0% |
-11 |
-15.8% |
||
New Hampshire |
24 |
3.9% |
-15 |
-16.4% |
||
Vermont |
8 |
2.5% |
-8 |
-18.1% |
||
Massachusetts |
-20 |
-0.6% |
-72 |
-19.4% |
||
Rhode Island |
23 |
4.8% |
-14 |
-21.2% |
||
Connecticut |
20 |
1.2% |
-26 |
-12.0% |
||
Middle Atlantic |
464 |
2.6% |
-319 |
-17.2% |
||
New York |
211 |
2.5% |
-125 |
-18.4% |
||
New Jersey |
99 |
2.5% |
-67 |
-17.5% |
||
Pennsylvania |
153 |
2.7% |
-127 |
-16.1% |
||
MIDWEST |
352 |
1.1% |
-545 |
-11.1% |
||
East North Central |
-62 |
-0.3% |
-483 |
-13.4% |
||
Ohio |
-57 |
-1.0% |
-136 |
-14.9% |
||
Indiana |
69 |
2.4% |
-37 |
-6.3% |
||
Illinois |
67 |
1.1% |
-103 |
-13.2% |
||
Michigan |
-210 |
-4.7% |
-159 |
-20.3% |
||
Wisconsin |
70 |
2.5% |
-47 |
-8.6% |
||
West North Central |
414 |
4.2% |
-62 |
-4.8% |
||
Minnesota |
113 |
4.2% |
-23 |
-6.3% |
||
Iowa |
70 |
4.8% |
1 |
0.5% |
||
Missouri |
95 |
3.5% |
-33 |
-10.0% |
||
North Dakota |
29 |
8.9% |
2 |
9.7% |
||
South Dakota |
32 |
8.4% |
4 |
9.2% |
||
Nebraska |
41 |
4.5% |
-7 |
-6.2% |
||
Kansas |
35 |
2.6% |
-6 |
-3.2% |
||
SOUTH |
3,400 |
7.4% |
* |
* |
||
South Atlantic |
2,096 |
8.6% |
* |
* |
||
Delaware |
23 |
5.5% |
* |
* |
||
Maryland |
140 |
5.7% |
-30 |
-18.1% |
||
District of Columbia |
40 |
6.1% |
* |
* |
||
Virginia |
281 |
8.0% |
-45 |
-13.5% |
||
West Virginia |
25 |
3.4% |
-11 |
-15.2% |
||
North Carolina |
245 |
6.4% |
-125 |
-18.6% |
||
South Carolina |
120 |
6.6% |
-58 |
-19.1% |
||
Georgia |
243 |
6.2% |
-40 |
-8.2% |
||
Florida |
978 |
13.7% |
-30 |
-7.1% |
||
East South Central |
357 |
4.8% |
* |
* |
||
Kentucky |
67 |
3.7% |
-26 |
-9.1% |
||
Tennessee |
141 |
5.3% |
-47 |
-10.7% |
||
Alabama |
113 |
6.0% |
* |
* |
||
Mississippi |
36 |
3.2% |
-22 |
-11.1% |
||
West South Central |
948 |
6.8% |
* |
* |
||
Arkansas |
61 |
5.3% |
-27 |
-12.4% |
||
Louisiana |
2 |
0.1% |
-12 |
-7.2% |
||
Oklahoma |
65 |
4.4% |
* |
* |
||
Texas |
819 |
8.7% |
-64 |
-6.4% |
||
WEST |
2,597 |
9.3% |
* |
* |
||
Mountain |
1,308 |
15.3% |
* |
* |
||
Montana |
54 |
13.9% |
0 |
-0.5% |
||
Idaho |
89 |
15.8% |
-1 |
-0.8% |
||
Wyoming |
36 |
14.6% |
* |
* |
||
Colorado |
120 |
5.5% |
-25 |
-14.3% |
||
New Mexico |
88 |
11.6% |
-2 |
-4.6% |
||
Arizona |
470 |
20.9% |
-6 |
-3.3% |
||
Utah |
179 |
16.7% |
10 |
8.4% |
||
Nevada |
271 |
26.1% |
9 |
20.9% |
||
Pacific |
1,290 |
6.6% |
* |
* |
||
Washington |
245 |
9.2% |
-14 |
-4.5% |
||
Oregon |
143 |
9.0% |
-5 |
-2.4% |
||
California |
790 |
5.5% |
-212 |
-12.4% |
||
Alaska |
30 |
10.3% |
1 |
11.7% |
||
Hawaii |
82 |
15.0% |
* |
* |
||
Source: Economic Policy Institute analysis of Current Employment Statistics survey data. |
||||||
* Data not available. |
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