:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 ::

Study: Loss of manufacturing jobs worse than thought - 2004-02-25 - Sacramento Business Journal:

"More than 261,000 manufacturing jobs and $98 billion in gross sales of California-manufactured products disappeared in the three-year period between 1999 and 2002.
The loss in manufacturing jobs is particularly damaging because manufacturing jobs pay exceptionally well -- almost 50 percent more than the average of all California jobs.
For decades, manufacturing jobs in California have been the prized 'one-way ticket' to the middle class for those on lower rungs of the job ladder (in particular the Latino worker).
Manufacturing jobs have a pronounced 'multiplier effect' -- they create jobs in other sectors of the economy, at a rate at least twice that of the trickle-down from the retail industry.
California legislation in recent years has had a noticeable anti-manufacturing bias.
State and local land-use policies make the development of manufacturing facilities difficult.
'As a result of all these factors, doing business in California is more difficult and more expensive than in neighboring states. California is drifting down the path of becoming a region of smaller storefront companies. Many of the large or mature companies are taking all or a portion of their operation out of town,' Kosmont says. 'We are losing high-pay manufacturing jobs and replacing them with lower-paying or minimum-wage jobs.' "

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2004 07:49:00 PM [+] ::
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