Washington, D.C. – Today, the Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) released the May 2011 edition of its state-by-state snapshots which detail each individual state’s economic progress for the previous month.  The report shows that national economic progress is translating into economic expansion in most states, with forty-two states and the District of Columbia experiencing private-sector job growth during the month.

“This report highlights the job gains we are seeing across state lines and across different sectors of the economy.   More than four out of five states added private-sector jobs in April and 37 states reported gains in manufacturing employment,” said Senator Bob Casey, Chairman of the JEC.  “It is encouraging to see states in every region of the country adding jobs and continuing to recover from the Great Recession.  But, with national unemployment at 9.0 percent, we must stay focused on policies that will create and protect jobs.”

Highlights include:

• Forty-two states and the District of Columbia added private-sector jobs in April, with New York (43,800), Texas (34,000) and Pennsylvania (24,800) achieving the largest gains.  For the past 12 months, Kansas is the only state to have lost private-sector jobs.

• Thirty-nine states saw their unemployment rates decline in April, with Nevada reporting the largest drop (0.7 percentage point).[1]
• Expansion in the manufacturing sector continued, with 37 states adding manufacturing positions.    In the past 12 months, the U.S. has added nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs, with Midwestern states reporting the largest gains.  Michigan (22,500), Wisconsin (16,500), Texas (10,500), Ohio (10,200) and Pennsylvania (10,000) have added the largest number of manufacturing positions in the past year.

The report, entitled “Understanding the Economy: State-by-State Snapshots,” features key economic statistics for each state. The report is the fifth edition of 2011 released by the Chairman of the JEC and uses recently released state-level data to explain how the economic recovery is unfolding in each state.

To read the executive summary of the report, which includes the figures and charts, click here.
To see individual state snapshots, click here.

# # #