Guess which states had highest employment increases past month

[phillyaggie]

You won't believe it. Not the usual places like Texas, Louisiana, Virginia, etc...

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Payrolls increased in 38 states in April, led by Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, indicating the recovery in the labor market is becoming more broad-based.

Employers in Ohio boosted staff by 37,300 workers last month, the biggest jump in 22 years, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Those in Pennsylvania added 34,000 workers, and employment in New York climbed by 32,700.

Employment Increased in 38 U.S. States in April (Update3) - BusinessWeek


I wonder whether Philly's job market and economy is also turning and whether it's in fact better than the rest of the state's or slightly worse.

These three states might be benefiting from the Marcellus Shale drilling as well, but the article states that the jobs were created in multiple different industries...

[Sailaway]

It would be interesting to see how many of these are permanent jobs and how many are Census or temporary employment.

[3rd&Brown]

I knew Pennsylvania would rank high, considering I read that California has added something like 14,000 jobs, and they have nearly 5X as many people.

I think there is a lot going on to explain it, but namely, since the last major manufacturing downturn in the 1980s, the state has done an incredible job diversifying its employment base, and now relies more on less recession prone industries such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.

I also recently read that the Philadelphia metro, along with San Francisco and Boston, is one of only 3 in the entire country in which eds, meds, and life sciences outrank all other industries.

The Marcellus Shale probably doesn't hurt, but I don't think of that the natural gas industry, itself, will be a very strong employer in the state (which is why we need to tax it, but that's a topic for another thread). The process of maintaining a natural gas well is not labor intensive, and the gas won't be refined in Pennsylvania (just taken elsewhere).

Regardless, it is good to see the state faring well. Hopefully improvements to the budget situation will follow close behind.

[thoth]

It would be interesting to see how many of these are permanent jobs and how many are Census or temporary employment.

I think there was something like 650k census workers hired, divided up across the country. Figuring the bulk of those went to the "big states", this study is still interesting because in theory NYC/Penna/Texas/Cali would all have seen similar gains from census duty. But the Sun Belt states still lagged behind the more traditionally anemic NE, which is significant.

I think it's reaching to say this suggests a "broad based recovery", but it does make me wonder if this is still just implosion from the over inflated housing markets in the SW, or if there is a larger shift taking place.

[3rd&Brown]

Most of the jobs in the sunbelt were related to construction. It's not like Merck and Pfizer were building new plants in FL or AZ because of the highly educated workforce, let's be honest. All of those jobs were in construction, and many of them were related to new home construction.

Quite frankly, I'm happy to see the tables turned for once. Maybe it will encourage our boomtowns (Vegas, Phoenix, etc) to attempt to do something a bit more sustainable the next time around.

Now, what I'd really like to see is Philadelphia recapture the #5 spot from Phoenix. Shouldn't be hard given the bust there combined with Arizona's efforts to chase every Mexican out of the state. IMO, they should come here. They're perfectly welcome.

[thoth]

Meh the #5 designation is meaningless for Pheonix, cause they just annexed their suburbs. Their metro area is tiny compared to ours. I think with our relative stagnacy, and their newly curbed economy, both cities will be staying put population wise for a while.

[phillyaggie]

The Marcellus Shale probably doesn't hurt, but I don't think of that the natural gas industry, itself, will be a very strong employer in the state (which is why we need to tax it, but that's a topic for another thread). The process of maintaining a natural gas well is not labor intensive, and the gas won't be refined in Pennsylvania (just taken elsewhere).

Actually, gas drilling, production, processing, and transmission sectors have created tens of thousands of jobs in other big shale plays...one of the reasons why places like ND, SD, CO, TX, OK had a shallow recession.

Once the nat gas prices recover, there will be a real demand growth for Marcellus shale gas since it's closer to Northeast and Midwestern home heating, utility, and industry markets and thus would cost less than gas from further afield. And shale wells notoriously run down in production very quickly so new wells continually need to get drilled in order to keep a field productive. Already, as of 2008, PA had about 55,000 producing wells, about 12% of the total national number...and Marcellus has a long way to go before getting tapped out at maximum. Philly doesn't seem to get any benefit from any of this, even from banking/consulting/strategy perspective, but Pittsburgh seems to have gained jobs from this industry and of course the rural areas and smaller towns have also done well. At this point, most of the benefits seem to have come to private land owners with mineral rights who signed up with landmen from various companies and are now getting nice monthly royalty checks.

And if there is enough gas, I could also easily see several gas plants pop up around the place. You want pipeline quality gas at least so it's better to put up small gas plants with demethanizer columns, dump out y-grade liquids and sell the liquids to someone else. You could potentially build a big fractionator also but those I agree are few and far between, partly because your plant economics then depend on spot markets for various fractions and you might not get the desired return for all the complexity unless there is a ready buyer nearby such as an oil refinery.

Long story short, PA may not have enough talent in the gas sector and so could potentially gain lots of new residents if it lets the industry grow... taxing the hell out of it might not be the best idea, IMO. Doesn't mean you don't regulate it, however.

[fiveomar]

Now, what I'd really like to see is Philadelphia recapture the #5 spot from Phoenix. Shouldn't be hard given the bust there combined with Arizona's efforts to chase every Mexican out of the state. IMO, they should come here. They're perfectly welcome.

Assuming you're talking about illegal immigrants, no they are NOT welcome here.

[billy ross]

Assuming you're talking about illegal immigrants, no they are NOT welcome here.

Philly would probably benefit from some illegals, IMO. I'd love to see an influx of Cubans, for instance, or even Colombians. I'd have no problem seeing 100k illegal Chinese move to Philly, either. Bring on the Argentines. I'd love to see an influx of Bangladeshis or Pakistanis, or even Afghans. As long as our population is well below what our city has been built to hold, it will be easier on us if we grow the population. Philly could easily handle a population of 2 million, without even breaking a sweat. Let's get the Russians, the Kazakhs, and the Uzbeks to set up shop here. There are 31 million people in Kerala. What if 100k of them moved to Philly? We'd go through the roof. I believe the recent influx of Mexicans to South Philly, legal and illegal, has been good for South Philly. Now, I don't want to see an East LA situation here, but we're a long way from that.

[raider.adam]

Philly would probably benefit from some illegals, IMO. I'd love to see an influx of Cubans, for instance, or even Colombians. I'd have no problem seeing 100k illegal Chinese move to Philly, either. Bring on the Argentines. I'd love to see an influx of Bangladeshis or Pakistanis, or even Afghans. As long as our population is well below what our city has been built to hold, it will be easier on us if we grow the population. Philly could easily handle a population of 2 million, without even breaking a sweat. Let's get the Russians, the Kazakhs, and the Uzbeks to set up shop here. There are 31 million people in Kerala. What if 100k of them moved to Philly? We'd go through the roof. I believe the recent influx of Mexicans to South Philly, legal and illegal, has been good for South Philly. Now, I don't want to see an East LA situation here, but we're a long way from that.

I am all for immigration, but a mass influx of people with no work would be a problem. That's a big difference between now and 100 years ago. American industry was starving for any able bodied person it could get.

[billy ross]

I am all for immigration, but a mass influx of people with no work would be a problem. That's a big difference between now and 100 years ago. American industry was starving for any able bodied person it could get.

Healthy immigrant populations creat their own work through creating jobs, industries, and companies. We have an overly generous welfare system which enslaves some immigrant groups, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Generally immigrants are more entrepreneurial than the general population.

The internet has become more of a game-changer than people realize. For fairly little start-up cost, a person can have a business up and running in their bedroom, doing distribution, manufacturing, or simply crunching ideas. Just this past weekend at the Flea Market I met a woman who makes East Falls Soaps in her kitchen. They are nice soaps, at least the one I've used thus far, and they are locally artisan-made.

[raider.adam]

Healthy immigrant populations creat their own work through creating jobs, industries, and companies. We have an overly generous welfare system which enslaves some immigrant groups, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Generally immigrants are more entrepreneurial than the general population.

The internet has become more of a game-changer than people realize. For fairly little start-up cost, a person can have a business up and running in their bedroom, doing distribution, manufacturing, or simply crunching ideas. Just this past weekend at the Flea Market I met a woman who makes East Falls Soaps in her kitchen. They are nice soaps, at least the one I've used thus far, and they are locally artisan-made.

I don't agree. Take current economic situation for instance. It is a tough theory to push that, when unemployment rates are raising, that merely putting 100K new people in an area will create 100K new jobs.

Labor follows laws of supply and demand as well.

Again, if what you say is true, people wouldn't need to immigrate from their own country to the US to find work. The work would exist in their own country because they exist.

[thoth]

I don't agree. Take current economic situation for instance. It is a tough theory to push that, when unemployment rates are raising, that merely putting 100K new people in an area will create 100K new jobs.

Labor follows laws of supply and demand as well.

Again, if what you say is true, people wouldn't need to immigrate from their own country to the US to find work. The work would exist in their own country because they exist.

Countries with skyrocketing unemployment rates also usually see pretty sharp declines in immigration. I bet you that immigration has declined with the recession. In fact I´ll let google settle that right now: ILW.COM - immigration news: Increasing Evidence That Recession Has Caused Number Of Unauthorized Immigrants In US To Drop A pro immigration website, too.

[raider.adam]

Countries with skyrocketing unemployment rates also usually see pretty sharp declines in immigration. I bet you that immigration has declined with the recession. In fact I´ll let google settle that right now: ILW.COM - immigration news: Increasing Evidence That Recession Has Caused Number Of Unauthorized Immigrants In US To Drop A pro immigration website, too.

Right. The vast amount of immigration is because they are looking for work, not creating it. Granted, Say's Law is "supply creates demand", but it doesn't happen in a vacuum. An increased supply of manual labor with a commiserate drop in the wage of said labor may put off automation or streamlining (e.g. cheaper to throw more bodies at the problem than new equipment or better process).

[billy ross]

Countries with skyrocketing unemployment rates also usually see pretty sharp declines in immigration. I bet you that immigration has declined with the recession. In fact I´ll let google settle that right now: ILW.COM - immigration news: Increasing Evidence That Recession Has Caused Number Of Unauthorized Immigrants In US To Drop A pro immigration website, too.

Considering that the Philly metro is one integrated economy, what is the unemployment rate in this metro? I don't think it's particularly high, at least not in comparison with that of other places, although it's probably higher than its historical level. Judging by the tea leaves I read, it's low enough (relative to that of other places) to drive migration from other places to here, and that is a relatively recent phenomenon. I'm looking for it to impact the city's budget, with more ratables driving higher collections.

The Philly metro is in possession of the 4th largest economy of all metros in this country, down from #1 200 years ago. While we've experienced relative decline, it hasn't been a particularly steep drop. We tend to lose ground during booms and make it back during busts. Now is a bust, and we're clawing our way back. Another way of looking it is that other places are hares and we are the tortoise. While we're slow and steady, month in and month out, other places run hot and cold, with spectacular bursts of each.

[billy ross]

Again, if what you say is true, people wouldn't need to immigrate from their own country to the US to find work. The work would exist in their own country because they exist.

Your if - then statement is incorrect. Our system fosters economic growth. In kleptocracies like Nigeria or places with stifling and dysfunctional governments like India or Venezuela or Cuba, people aren't free to create wealth. That's why the populations of certain countries flail at home and thrive here. To the extent that they adopt an open and fair system like ours, your statement would be correct, though, and that is what is happening in China, Brazil, and India today. Argentina, on the other hand, is still thoroughly confused, and that's why I'd love to see a massive influx of Argentines in Philly. Poor government holds them back, but our government is clean and responsible, in comparison.