•Press Release
April 25, 2019
Gains in California and Florida not enough to overcome losses in Industrial Midwest
For Immediate Release: April 25, 2019
Contact: Karen Conner, (202) 293-5380 x117, [email protected]
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s new analysis of jobs in blue collar sectors, manufacturing job growth stalled for the second month in a row. The sector lost 6,000 jobs in March, the first decline in the sector since July 2017. Only 1,000 jobs were added in February, a pittance compared to January’s increase of 17,000 jobs.
As CEPR reported last month, February was generally dismal for job growth nationally. Unlike the manufacturing sector, construction rebounded from last month, adding 16,000 jobs in March. Mining and logging jobs increased by 2,000, bringing the January to March three-month average to 1,670 jobs. (Job performance by state and blue collar sector may be viewed on our Blue Collar Jobs Tracker map.)
“Overall, this is a disappointing report. It will be interesting to see what happens when the April national and state job numbers come out, especially with manufacturing,” said CEPR’s Matt Sedlar.
For a detailed analysis of the major blue collar industries of manufacturing, construction, mining, and logging, see Blue Collar Jobs Tracker. Each month, this site is updated with the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics state level jobs data in these industries.
