The Finger Lakes – Economic Challenges and Strategic Response: An Assessment

This research is a case study of employment challenges facing the Rochester Metropolitan area and the Finger Lakes region, and an analysis of the region’s strategic economic development plans and reports, developed in response to Governor Cuomo’s challenge to regions seeking economic development funding. While the report finds reasons why the region’s recent weak economic […]

Traded Employment Losses Since 2001 in Upstate New York

Metropolitan areas in Central and Western New York, like others in the Rust Belt that had high concentrations of manufacturing employment, have been hit hard by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Ninety-one thousand net manufacturing jobs were lost in the 2001-2010 decade in five upstate metropolitan areas – Utica-Rome, Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, and Buffalo-Niagara Falls. […]

Left Behind: Missing from the Labor Market in New York State

A reader of this blog recently wrote, “We know that labor force participation rates across the country have declined noticeably for a number of years, and many economists have warned of the troubling implications of this. Such rates across Upstate NY have declined as well, and in most cases are significantly below the national average – not an encouraging sign. […]

Response to Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity

I’d like to thank Kay Wilkie, who serves on the United States Trade Representative’s Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee for offering useful comments concerning my post, “Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity” Kay points out that “It would be worthwhile to carefully examine and review the aspects of international trade and investment […]

Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity

Note – See an important revision of this post here: https://policybynumbers.com/reconsidering-lost-manufacturing-jobs-the-effects-of-imports-and-increased-productivity The decline in manufacturing employment in the United States has caused a wrenching economic adjustment, as one path to relatively well paying jobs has narrowed, particularly for workers without college educations. As the percentage of workers in our society who work in manufacturing industries […]

As Private Sector Employee Incomes Stagnate, Local Government Workers Prosper

The slow growth of worker incomes since 2000 has been the subject of intense policy and political debates. One of the clear messages of the 2012 Presidential campaign was the call to remedy perceived distortions in world trade that have disadvantaged American workers, particularly those had in the past held jobs in manufacturing industries. The […]

Economic Stagnation and Electoral Discontent in the Rust Belt

Readers of this blog know that I have been describing changes in employment in New York State and the rust belt associated with the loss of manufacturing employment in the nation. The loss of 5,500,000 manufacturing jobs since 1970 has slowed employment growth in the region as a whole. As a result, upstate cities, along […]

The Decline of Manufacturing in New York and the Rust Belt

In a recent post I looked at employment changes in New York’s metropolitan areas and compared their performance with other metropolitan areas in the rust belt. I found that change was inconsistent between cities in each state, and over different time periods. I argued that industry mix probably was the primary cause of the differing […]

Government Policies and Job Growth in New York State and the Rust Belt

A recent Washington Post article, “As senator, Clinton promised 200,000 jobs in Upstate New York. Her efforts fell flat.”[1] points out that during Senator Clinton’s tenure between 2001 and 2009, Upstate New York saw job growth of only 0.2%, far from what Clinton claimed could be achieved. While the article neglects to point out that […]