Category: Uncategorized

No Good News in April Blue Collar Jobs Report Even for States Resisting Business Closures

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Employment in construction, manufacturing, and mining and logging decreased by 2,373,000 jobs in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was, of course, largely attributed to the closure of nonessential businesses and decrease in work during the coronavirus pandemic. But looking at the data, state-by-state, certain regions suffered more than others. The construction […]

Revised July Numbers and Weak August Job Growth Raise Questions About Slump Again

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Jobs in the blue collar sectors of construction, manufacturing, and mining and logging increased by 12,000 in August. The big news is not, however, the August numbers, but the revised numbers from July. Last month’s report was fairly positive about the state of manufacturing as it appeared to be finally climbing out of a slump. […]

Manufacturing Gains in July, But a Weak Month for Construction and Mining

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Jobs in the blue collar sectors of construction, manufacturing, and mining and logging increased by 15,000 in July, but in a surprise twist, that growth was mostly in manufacturing, not construction. Job growth was primarily in the South and West, with the addition of 12,400 and 8,300 blue collar jobs, respectively. The Northeast only added […]

Americans Deserve Safer Jobs

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Filiberto Morales was 36 years old when he reported to work at a construction site on the grounds of Coryell Memorial Hospital in Gatesville, Texas. It was June 26, 2018. According to an investigative report from the state fire marshal’s office, as Morales was working in the site’s mechanical room, natural gas was leaking into […]

Manufacturing Rebounds in June, But Slump Persists in the Northeast

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Construction, manufacturing and mining and logging added 37,000 jobs in June, a rebound from mediocre May numbers. The May jobs numbers were actually revised upward, from 8,000 to 11,000, with the gains split between construction and mining and logging. In what is a pattern over the past several months, increases in June were heavily concentrated […]

Manufacturers Have a Trump Problem

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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recently released its Manufacturer’s Outlook Survey for the second quarter of 2019, and by its own members’ measures[1], optimism is starting to take a hit. The association is still pushing the line that one of the biggest concerns the industry is facing is “attracting and retaining a quality workforce.” […]

May Marks Another Weak Month for Blue Collar Jobs

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Jobs in construction, manufacturing, and mining and logging increased by 8,000 jobs in May.  The story here is the continuing weakness in manufacturing and mining and logging now coupled with a dismal month for construction. But looking at individual states and regions, a clear picture is starting to emerge about who is winning and who […]

Non-Investing Manufacturers Threaten Tax Law Repeal Would Mean Even Less Investment

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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) recently declared that any attempt to repeal Trump’s 2017 tax reform law would “strike a major blow to manufacturing jobs, wages and investments.” The organization backed the claim with data from its last quarterly survey of manufacturers, which found 66 percent of respondents stating they would consider cutting back […]

Little to No Growth in Mining and Logging and Manufacturing as Slump Continues into April

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Employment in construction, manufacturing, and mining and logging increased by 34,000 jobs in April, which sounds positive until you separate the data by sector. Growth in the last month was driven largely by construction, with manufacturing growth falling short for the third month in a row and mining and logging seeing a decrease of 3,000 […]

Manufacturing Job Growth Stalls For Second Month in a Row

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Employment in construction, manufacturing, and mining and logging increased by 12,000 jobs in March. This is a bump up from a gloomy February but nowhere near as strong as prior months. In fact, the average over the last three months (January, February, March) was 21,330 compared with 43,000 in the prior three months (October, November, […]