Covid-19: The Cost in Lost Jobs

With more than 190,000 lives lost and millions infected, Covid-19 has imposed a tragic toll on residents of the United States. New York State was hit hard early on, and has lost 32,600 residents to the disease as of early September But strong controls that shut down much of the state’s economy for weeks during […]

Local Leaders’ Role in Combating the Economic Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 health response has shut down New York’s local economies. With most business activities on pause, local government leaders should be addressing the economic impact now and preparing for the time when businesses are permitted to reopen. To date, the health impact of the virus in Upstate New York has been less severe than […]

Reconsidering “Lost Manufacturing Jobs – The Effects of Imports and Increased Productivity”

In a post examining the causes of the decline in manufacturing employment over the past fifty years, I concluded, like other analysts, that although increases in imported manufactured products had caused part of the decrease, most of the drop resulted from productivity increases from automation and process improvements. See for example https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/upshot/the-long-term-jobs-killer-is-not-china-its-automation.html. Because of the emphasis […]

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 […]