Pennsylvania's Manufacturing Crisis
Since 2000 Pennsylvania has lost about 180,000 manufacturing jobs. Because manufacturing jobs have often been among the best paying jobs in the state, the impact of this job loss on communities across the the sate has been significant.
The Pennsylvania economy is generating new jobs, but at one of the slowest rates in the nation and in spite of recent business tax cuts.
According to data from the Keystone Research Center, Pennsylvania's newer jobs are not paying as much as the jobs the state is losing.
Since the beginning of the recession in Pennsylvania (March 2001), sectors with lower wages have added jobs and sectors with higher wages have lost jobs. The nonagricultural industries whose wages exceeded the statewide average annual wage in 2002 lost a total of 5.3 percent of their jobs. Sectors where wages were below the statewide average increased their employment by 2.9 percent.
Missing that Last Raise?
You are not alone.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, even though the U.S. enconomy as a whole added 2.2 million jobs in 2004 and produced strong corporate profits, the wages of 95 percent of all U.S. workers fell or had no gains after inflation. Income for those in the top 5 percent of wage earners grew by 1 percent on average with some gaining much more.
Economists cite a number of reasons for poor U.S. average wage gains: increasing competition from overseas labor, the pressure of Wal-Mart's low wages, and increasing energy and benefit costs.
The Times article suggests that many economist say the U.S. may be returning to a period of very slow wage growth like that of the 23 years between 1973 and 1996 when inflation-adjusted wages stagnated or grew very, very slowly.
Corporate CEOs enjoyed substantial growth in income. Their average pay was up some 12 percent in 2004.
The State of Working Pennsylvania
Every year the Keystone Research Center issues a comprehensive report on the state of working Pennsylvania that pays close attention to conditions that bear directly on the quality of life for the Commonwealth's working families.
For more information on the state of the Pennsylvania economy, visit The State of Working Pennsylvania Web site: www.stateofworkingpa.com
DO YOU HAVE A PLANT CLOSING STORY?
The PA AFL-CIO wants to document the impact of the loss of manufacturing jobs in communities across Pennsylvania.
Have you or your family been affected by a plant-closing or lay-off in the last 12 months? If you have we would like to hear from you. Use this special feedback form to get in touch.
RECENT PA PLANT CLOSINGS
May 2005, Middleburg. Thor America. 120 jobs lost. Reason: Workers refused to have pay reduced from $13.40 to $9 an hour with health insurance contribution increase of 300 percent.
December 2004, Lewisburg. Pennsylvania House Furniture. 470 jobs lost. Reason: La-Z-Boy moving production to China.