Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) released the July 2011 edition of its state-by-state snapshots which detail each individual state’s economic progress for the previous month.  The report entitled, “Understanding the Economy: State-by-State Snapshots,” shows that despite the recent slowdown in national employment growth, thirty-two states and the District of Colombia saw an increase in private sector growth in June.

“This report highlights some bright spots for private sector jobs with business and manufacturing jobs now starting to expand across the nation,” said Senator Bob Casey, Chairman of the JEC.  “However, the progress has not been nearly enough to bring down our unemployment numbers.  Twenty-eight states including the District of Colombia showed an increase in their unemployment rates from May to June.  Congress must act to provide incentives for business owners to hire new employees.  Policies like my small business tax credit must be implemented to encourage businesses to hire qualified Americans and prevent more jobs from going overseas.”

The spike in oil and gas prices as well as the supply-chain effects of the Japanese earthquake slowed much of the momentum put forth by this month’s private sector job creation.  Nationally, private-sector employment gains slowed to 57,000 in June, following gains of just 73,000 in May.

Other highlights include:

• Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia added private-sector jobs in June.  California’s private sector saw the largest expansion during the month, adding 28,800 jobs, followed by Texas with 19,700.  In the past 12 months, 11 states have each added more than 40,000 private-sector jobs.   Only the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Delaware – all in the Mid-Atlantic region –lost private-sector positions in the past year.
   
• Despite private-sector job growth in a majority of states, twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia saw their unemployment rates increase in June, with nine of those states and DC recording statistically significant increases.  The District of Columbia (0.6 percentage point) and South Carolina (0.5 percentage point) had the largest increases.
   
• Manufacturing employment expanded in 29 states in June.  The largest gains were in Texas, which added 8,400 manufacturing jobs, followed by California (4,900) and Massachusetts (2,900). Overall, the United States has added 159,000 manufacturing jobs in the past twelve months.
   
• Twenty-six states added jobs in the professional and business services sector in June.  California (16,400), New York (4,000) and Maryland (2,800) posted the largest increases.  In the past year, 44 states and the District of Columbia have added professional and business services jobs, with California, Texas, and New York recording the largest gains. 

The report, available at www.jec.senate.gov, is the seventh edition of 2011 released by the Chairman of the JEC and uses recently released state-level data to explain how the economic recovering is unfolding in each state.

 

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