June US Jobs Report Signals More Job Loss To Come For PA

Commonwealth Must Maintain Spending To Forestall Additional Job Loss

The carnage in the national job market continued unrelenting in June, with the U.S. shedding 467,000 jobs and the national underemployment rate reaching 16.5%--roughly one of every six Americans in the labor force. 

National job numbers releases on July 2nd place the debate about Pennsylvania's state budget in a new context. It is well known to economists that the best way for state government to limit job loss in an economic recession is to maintain spending levels. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and others have shown that direct spending reductions may generate more adverse economic consequences than tax increases, particularly tax increases on higher-income households. That means tax increases can be the least damaging way to close state fiscal deficits in the short run and provide for long-term economic growth.

read more

DATA THROUGH MAY, 2009

Animated Map Shows Unemployment Increases in PA

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has released new data on unemployment rates by county in Pennsylvania. The following heat map illustrates how unemployment rates have changed across the commonwealth over the course of the recession through May, 2009. As the unemployment rate rises the colors on the map move from white, yellow and orange to red, purple and black. The colors change on the map as we move from the start of the recession to May the sixteenth month of the current recession.

View Animated Map

Unionization Substantially Raises Wages Of Pennsylvania Service-Sector Workers

Pennsylvania workers, like workers across the nation, have seen their wages stagnate or grow slowly in recent decades. But a report released today shows that being in a union significantly boosts the wages of Pennsylvania workers employed in service industries.

The report, released jointly by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, D.C., and the Keystone Research Center (KRC) in Harrisburg, finds that unionization raises the wages of the average service-sector worker in Pennsylvania by nearly 9 percent.

Nationally, unionization raises the average service-sector wage by 10.1 percent.

read MORE

Pennsylvania Jobs Report Takes Turn for the Worse in February

Commonwealth Must Move Aggressively to Maximize Its Share of Available Economic Stimulus Money

The Pennsylvania economy shed 41,000 jobs in February, boosting January’s 7% state unemployment rate to 7.5%, according to data released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. In February, the U.S. unemployment rate stood at 8.1%.

Since the recession began in December 2007, Pennsylvania has lost 112,500 jobs — a decline of 1.9%. In February, the weakest sectors were manufacturing, which shed 15,200 jobs, and financial activities, which shed 4,100 jobs.

The state’s current unemployment rate is well above the peak following the 2001 recession when it reached 5.8%, and over the next several months the unemployment rate will surpass the 7.8% peak reached following the 1990 recession. 

read MORE

PA Fund for Workforce Solutions Announces RFP for Industry Partnerships in State

The Pennsylvania Fund for Workforce Solutions (PFWS) has grant money available for successful Industry Partnerships in the commonwealth and is currently accepting requests for proposals (RFPs).

Susan Crandall, Director of Workforce Innovation for Keystone Research Center, announced the funding opportunity on behalf of PFWS.

The Pennsylvania Fund for Workforce Solutions is a project of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (www.nfwsolutions.org), which strives to improve employment, training, and labor market outcomes for lower-skilled individuals. The PFWS builds on the commonwealth’s ongoing workforce transformation by providing opportunities for lower-skilled individuals to access and advance within Industry Partnerships.

download RFP (PDF)

Pennsylvania's Jobs Report

PA Labor Market Takes Another Beating in December; More Trouble Ahead in January

While the United States has now been in recession for a year, most of the job losses nationally and in Pennsylvania occurred in just the last three months of 2008. Early figures on unemployment claims for the first part of January are also unsettling. These are clear indicators that the economy's downward spiral is accelerating rapidly and that policymakers in Washington, D.C. and Harrisburg need to step up their efforts to stimulate the economy.

read MORE

REACTION TO DECEMBER JOB NUMBERS

Weak Jobs Report for Nation Likely Spells Trouble for Pennsylvania

On January 9th the federal government reported that the national economy shed more than a half million jobs and that the unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent. In response, the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg has issued a statement on the Commonwealth's labor market situation.

read the KRC statement

AUTO CRISIS HITS CLOSE TO HOME

Collapse of Auto Industry Would Cost Pennsylvania 120,000 Jobs

Economic Policy Institute study ranks Pennsylvania ninth in nation in potential job loss

The financial woes of the U.S. auto industry are not just a Detroit problem but could impact the economies of states across the nation, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in Washington, D.C.

Pennsylvania ranked ninth among the 50 states in potential job loss if one or all of the automakers shut down, the study estimated. Up to 120,100 jobs would disappear in the state within a year if General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were allowed to fall into bankruptcy, while the loss of General Motors, the company most at risk of entering bankruptcy, would jeopardize up to 33,200 jobs in Pennsylvania.

Even if only motor vehicles and parts jobs are counted, Pennsylvania would lose up to 8,400 jobs from a total industry shutdown and up to 2,300 from the shutdown of General Motors alone, the study estimated.

read more

Harley Shaiken on the U.S. Auto Industry

On November 22, the auto industry crisis was the focus of The Rick Smith Radio Show, with guest host Stephen Herzenberg, Ph.D., the executive director of the Keystone Research Center. Dr. Herzenberg was joined by University of California Berkeley Professor Harley Shaiken to discuss the details of a federal rescue plan being sought by the Big Three automakers and the impact of the auto industry’s future on workers across the country and Pennsylvania.

The show is available online. Dr. Herzenberg’s interview with Prof. Shaiken begins at approximately 00:11:30 in the broadcast.

The State of Women in the Pennsylvania Workforce

Pennsylvania Women Stop Closing Wage Gap With Men

New report finds that since 2003, women in PA workforce have watched wages fall

More bad economic news—this time for the 47 percent of the Pennsylvania workforce that is female.

According to a new report from the Keystone Research Center (KRC), the slow-but-steady progress made by Pennsylvania women workers between the late 1970s and the early 1990s—progress in wiping out the so-called “gender wage gap”—has come to a grinding halt.

Since 2003, says KRC’s The State of Women in the Pennsylvania Workforce 2008, women workers have actually lost ground to men, with the 2007 wage gap remaining at almost $4 per hour. Typical Pennsylvania women, the study reports, now earn $13.20 per hour compared to the $17 per hour made by their male counterparts.

To supplement data presented in the report, KRC has made Pennsylvania county-level data on women's economic status available online.

download report | read more

New Research

Young PA Workers Today Earn 10 Percent Less Than Their Counterparts Nearly 30 Years Ago

Greater Education Offers Little Protection for Young Workers Union Membership Significantly Boosts Wages for Young Workers

Despite being better educated, young workers in Pennsylvania now earn 10 percent less than their counterparts did some 30 years ago.

According to a new report co-released by the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg and the Center for Economic Policy and Research in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania workers between the ages of 18 and 29 have seen their wages stagnate and the quality of their jobs deteriorate since 1979.

Mark Price, Ph.D., labor economist at the Keystone Research Center, said that after adjusting for inflation, a typical young Pennsylvania worker today earns $1.24 per hour less than similar workers did in 1979.

read more

Statement oN Growing Economic Crisis

Statement Following Release of PA Employment Report for August and in the Context of Continuing Financial Market Turmoil

In the wake of the release of new employment numbers for Pennsylvania on Friday, September 19, and the preceding week’s financial market turmoil, KRC issued a statement renewing its call for a second federal economic stimulus package. KRC urges state lawmakers to encourage national action and do what is possible at the state level to stimulate the economy. A new national economic stimulus package should include revenue-sharing with the states, investment in the country’s workforce, and investment in critical infrastructure needs.

read the statement

Update on PA HoUSing Prices

Home Prices Across PA Tumble

In 15 of 16 PA Metro Areas, Home Prices Are Down From One Year Ago

HARRISBURG, PA—As policy makers in Washington, D.C, scrambled yet again over the weekend to contain our national financial crisis—this time through a government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—there are new signs that the financial crisis is hurting Pennsylvania families: Home prices in the commonwealth and in 15 of its 16 metropolitan areas are falling, according to a new report from the Keystone Research Center (KRC) in Harrisburg.

read more | doWnload report (PDF)| housing issue guide

THE STATE OF WORKING PENNSYLVANIA 2008

National Slowdown Triggered by Falling Housing Prices Cools PA Economy

Even Before Slowdown, Stagnant Wages for Most Workers and Surging Incomes for Very Rich Marked 2001-2007 Expansion

The year-old national economic crisis triggered by rising mortgage foreclosures, falling home prices, and severely stressed financial institutions has already damaged the economy here in Pennsylvania, according to The State of Working Pennsylvania 2008.

KRC research at work

Pennsylvania Awarded Funding as Part of
Major New National Workforce Initiative

Commonwealth and group of 10 foundations and United Ways to receive $500,000 for efforts on behalf of employers and workers

The Pennsylvania Fund for Workforce Solutions, or PFWS, a partnership between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and 10 Pennsylvania philanthropic organizations has been awarded grants totaling $500,000 from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS), a new initiative devoted to creating opportunities for lower-skilled workers while simultaneously increasing economic competitiveness. KRC is the non-profit technical assistance partner of the Commonwealth and Pennsylvania philanthropic organizations on the PFWS project.

read more

Housing Prices in PA

In PA, Home Prices Falling Plus Unemployment Rising Could Equal Further Foreclosures

Freddie Mac, State Figures Support Notion that More Housing Woes May Be on Horizon for Commonwealth

Recent trends in housing prices in Pennsylvania suggest that larger declines lie ahead, researchers at the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg said today. And, they added, those price declines, coupled with rising unemployment in the state, raise the risk of additional mortgage delinquencies and home foreclosures in Pennsylvania.

read more

RECENT Research

Union Membership Increases Pay of Typical Pennsylvania Worker by 10 Percent

Union membership raises the wages of the typical Pennsylvania worker—the earner right in the middle of the pay scale—by 10.2 percent, according to a new report released jointly by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, DC, and the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg.

read more

Inequality Continues to Grow

Income Inequality Grew in Pennsylvania and Most States Over Past Two Decades

Middle- and Low-Income Families Have Made Few Gains since the Late 1990s, and Things Could Get Worse, Economist Says

Senators Clinton, Obama, and McCain need to show that they recognize the problem of growing economic inequality. They also need to offer solutions powerful enough to reverse current trends and to create a 21st century economy in which a rising tide once again lifts all boats.

The scale of the inequality problem in America is approaching that of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Are these candidates offering solutions on the scale of the New Deal?


Stephen Herzenberg
KRC executive director

The income gap between the richest and poorest families, and between rich and middle-income families, grew significantly in most states, including Pennsylvania, over the past two decades, according to a study released today by the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg and KRC’s national partners, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute.

Since the late 1990s, the report shows, the average income of the poorest fifth of Pennsylvania families decreased by $1,281, from $20,241 to $18,960. Over the same period, the average incomes of the middle fifth and the richest fifth of families were unchanged. The only income group to experience substantial income gains since the late 1990s was the richest 5% of families, who saw their incomes increase by $25,674, from 190,541 to $216,216.

read more | download study | PA Fact Sheet

New ResearcH

African-American Pay Boosted by Union Membership

A new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research analyzing data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), found that unionization raises the pay of African-American workers by about $2.00 per hour. According to the report, black workers in unions are also 16 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 19 percentage points more likely to have an employer-provided pension plan than black workers who are not in unions.

read more | CEPR PAPER

PA HOUSING MARKET

Housing Market Woes Endanger PA Economy, Keystone Research Finds

Bursting Housing Bubble, Rising Foreclosures, and Credit Squeeze Could Mean Hard Times for Many Pennsylvanians

Harrisburg, January 31—The first detailed study of the housing market in Pennsylvania and its major economic has been released by KRC.

The study, A Building Storm: The Housing Market and the Pennsylvania Economy, shows that while the Commonwealth has escaped some of the huge housing-related troubles that have struck neighboring states, Pennsylvania residents should not be lured into a false sense of security.

read more | visit KRC Housing MArket Issue Guide