State’s Manufacturing Follows U.S. Decline
All the teeth-gnashing that is consuming the country over the loss of manufacturing jobs seems so retro, so Rust Belt, so remote, so somebody else’s problem. The natural impulse is to let the Midwest, the Northeast and the poor folks down there in North Carolina worry about it.
Let’s get real.
In recent years Arizona has fared no better than the rest of the country in preventing manufacturing jobs from flushing out of the economic system. Manufacturing was once the 2nd largest employer in state; it’s now 9th. Employment peaked in 1998 and has sharply decreased since — making it the only major sector in the state to lose jobs in the period since 1990.
The foundation of the state’s economy, like the U.S., is metamorphosing from manufacturing to service. Here’s thinking about the consequences.
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