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| For Immediate Release April 14, 2003 |
Sacramento, CA- -
The Employment Development Department released its March unemployment numbers last Friday and California’s manufacturing job base fell for the 26th time in 27 months, yielding another 2,200 lost manufacturing jobs.California’s manufacturing employment decreased from 1,598,100 in February to 1,595,900 in March, 2003. Since January, 2001, the state has lost 278,000 manufacturing jobs.
“A 16 percent loss in our industrial workforce over the last two years is unacceptable,” said CMTA President Jack M. Stewart. “We know what the problems are - high workers’ compensation costs, high energy costs and an excessive tax burden.”
California’s industrial decline is a direct result of the high cost of manufacturing in California. A recent study by the Santa Monica based Milken Institute finds that the cost of manufacturing in California is 32 percent higher than the national average. Electricity costs are 94 percent higher than the national average. California’s tax burden tax burden is 34 percent higher than the national average. And, wage related costs are 16 percent higher than the national average.
“California’s budget crisis cannot be solved until our economic crisis is solved and our economic crisis will not be solved until policy makers in Sacramento adopt policies that will stimulate California’s stalled economy.”
To download CMTA’s current presentation outlining California’s historical two year manufacturing decline, why it has occurred and what we can do about it, please use this link http://www.cmta.net/EconomicCrisis.ppt