Why Are Manufacturing Job Levels Falling?
CCSCE published an analysis in March 2009 (http://www.ccsce.com/pdf/Numbers-Mar09-Mfg_Job_Losses.pdf). There are two basic conclusions: 1) that manufacturing job losses are primarily the result of productivity gains outpacing sales growth and 2) that, therefore, a lost job is most likely not a job that moved to another locale (here or abroad) but a job for which there was no longer any demand. With manufacturing productivity growing at 5-6 percent per year, substantial production gains are possible while job levels fall. Is Everyone Leaving California? Another version of the bad business climate discussion is the claim that people are fleeing California. During the past 20 years, migration to California has been positive except for four consecutive years in the early 1990s when Californias recession was deeper and longer than the national downturn. More people are coming to California than are leaving the state. The net migration data shown above includes movements between California a
