Massachusetts Employment Rate Drops Significantly According to Bureau of Labor Statistics
WASHINGTON — Massachusetts lost 42,600 jobs last year, more than all but two other states, according to figures released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The bureau reported that Michigan lost the most jobs, 78,800, followed by Ohio, which lost 66,900. Massachusetts was next, followed by South Carolina , which lost 40,900 jobs and Illinois, with 38,100.
Proportionately, Massachusetts also had the third largest drop in employment, at 1.3 percent, according to the bureau. Nationally, 22 states lost jobs in 2003, while 27 states and Washington , D.C. , showed employment gains. The largest job increases were in Florida , Georgia and Arizona , the bureau reported.
In November 2003, 500 people were unemployed in Newburyport , 1,249 people were unemployed in Salem and 1,056 people in Gloucester , according to the bureau. Those numbers, which, unlike the national numbers, are not seasonally adjusted, represented a significant increase from two years earlier.
From November 2001 to November 2003, Newburyport ‘s unemployment rate rose from 4.2 percent to 4.9 percent, Salem ‘s from 4.6 percent to 5.6 percent and Gloucester ‘s from 5.8 percent to 6.3 percent.
U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-Salem) criticized the Bush administration for not doing enough to help the unemployed.
“After slashing job training and vocational education funding for the last three years, the administration’s ‘Jobs for the 21st Century’ program amounts to little more than backfilling for their previous mistakes,” Tierney said in a statement.
“I would like to hear the administration suggest a thorough plan that will replace the 3 million jobs lost out of the economy,” he said. “Any job-recovery plan should replace the funds previously slashed for job training and vocational education, extend unemployment benefits to the millions who are currently going without, create tax incentives for manufacturers that choose to create jobs within the United States and support the reversal of a proposed Labor Department rule that would eliminate the overtime protection of 8 million people who are currently employed.”
In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush proposed spending $500 million for education and job training programs.
White House spokesman Ken Lisaius responded that 80 percent of the fastest growing jobs in the country require some form of higher education and a strong foundation in math and science. He added that community college is a good way to provide that and that the President’s plan included the seed money for job training between community college and good jobs.
Lisaius said that the President also proposes $33 million more in Pell Grants funds for college tuition, which could provide up to an additional $1,000 for low-income graduating high school seniors.
In an interview, Tierney said the rise in unemployment was “distressing.” He also said that we “need to take positive action for people whose [unemployment] benefits are being exhausted.” Massachusetts relies heavily on manufacturing and low- and high-tech industries, he said.
The state lost 77,900 manufacturing jobs since January 2001, according to BLS statistics.
Tierney said the federal government could boost employment rates by granting Defense Department contracts exclusively to American companies. The Bush administration was widely criticized after it prevented companies based in countries that did not join the Iraq war coalition from bidding on contracts to reconstruct the country.
Tierney also criticized the Bush administration for failing to extend unemployment benefits that expired at the end of the year. His office released a report, conducted by the House Government Reform Committee, that said 30,400 unemployed workers in the Boston metropolitan area, including his district, will lose their unemployment benefits in the next six months unless the President extends them.
“Jobless workers in communities across the country rely on these benefits to provide the most basic needs to their families,” Tierney said in a statement. “Each dollar they receive in unemployment benefits is injected directly into the economy, providing a boost of $1.73 for every dollar spent. If the President would just work with Congress to extend unemployment benefits, the economy of the North Shore and the Boston Metro Area would stand to gain $246 million in economic stimulus.”
