This Tiny East Coast State Has Serious Unemployment Problems

[FarCenter]

We've covered crazy employment trends in North Dakota, Michigan and Nevada.

But we realized this morning that we were missing out on a major story in the heart of New England.

The situation in Rhode Island, whose state motto is simply "Hope," is looking right hopeless.

Unemployment in the Ocean State stands at 11%, according to BLS data released today.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-east-coast-state-still-has-massive-unemployment-problems-2012-3

What is Rhode Island's problem?

[Ian David]

1. They have a Republican governor. Duh! n/t

Lincoln Chafee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

<snip>

2006 re-election campaign

Main article: United States Senate election in Rhode Island, 2006

In September 2005, Steve Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, announced his intention to run against Chafee in the Republican primary. Laffey was considered a formidable challenger, as he was much more conservative than Chafee. Among other stances totally opposite those of Chafee's, Laffey was pro-life and against embryonic stem cell research. Laffey was heavily supported by notable conservative groups, including the Club for Growth and several Ohio-based pro-life groups.

Chafee went on to defeat Laffey in the primary on September 12 by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent, an unusually close margin for an incumbent Senator. The turnout for the Republican primary was the largest in Rhode Island history. In his victory speech, Chafee credited unaffiliated voters and disaffiliated Democrats for his victory.[6]

Chafee was defeated by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in the general election. Whitehouse won by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin. Despite Chafee's high approval ratings statewide, Whitehouse pointed out that Chafee supported his party's more conservative leadership.

In response to a question at a news conference on November 9, 2006, Chafee stated he was unsure whether he would remain in the Republican Party after serving out the remainder of his term. According to Michelle R. Smith of the Associated Press, when asked whether he felt that his loss may have helped the country by switching control of power in Congress, he replied: "To be honest, yes."[7]

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Chafee

[Blue_Tires]

2. uh...Chafee, despite the (R) is more to the left than some moderate Dems

He was one of the classic New England republicans (social liberal/fiscal conservative) before the party killed them off...And although he never said it publicly (although he dropped heavy hints), he despised George W. Bush and the anti-science flat-earth Bible-humping wingnuttery he opened the floodgates for...I think if the Dems had really tried, they could have gotten him to cross over...

Believe it or not, he's also a strong environmentalist and had a very good green voting record...

[truebrit71]

5. There are quite a few Dems I would like to replace with folks like Chafee...

...Landreiu, Nelson for starters..

[Blue_Tires]

9. oh my goodness and Jim Webb at the minimum...

I'd met him a couple of times (professionally) when he was still a senator...

[chemp]

6. Chafee ran as and is an Independent.

And in a politically partisan state that leads to attacks from both sides who want the statehouse.

There are no jobs here. And people are moving out.

[hack89]

4. He was elected as an Independent.

there are many Democrats in his administration.

[Odin2005]

11. Chafee is to the left of many Democrats.

He's certainly to the left of my DINO Congressman, Collin Peterson.

[hack89]

3. Many reasons

1. Not a business friendly state with high taxes and lots of expensive regulation. We can't compete with Massachusetts.

2. Loss of manufacturing jobs. See number 1.

3. Poor educational system in the urban areas. High drop out rates and abysmally low test scores. Problem is hard to fix because there are 38 separate school districts and a lot of resistance to consolidation and regionalization. No manufacturing jobs which have traditionally employed the low skilled worker.

4. Lack of vision by our leaders. We have an excellent nucleus for a high-tech post-industrial economy with a concentration of excellent universities and hospitals in Providence. Our leaders have failed to capitalize on it.

5. Corruption.

[LynneSin]

7. I saw 'tiny east coast state' and was thinking - I know that's not Delaware

We've been doing pretty good so far - lucky to have a state run by the democrats!

[NNN0LHI]

8. Study: Rhode Island leads the US in manufacturing job losses

http://blogs.wpri.com/2012/03/20/study-rhode-island-leads-the-us-in-manufacturing-job-losses/

March 20th, 2012 at 6:00 am by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site It’s no secret the United States has hemorrhaged manufacturing jobs over the past decade. But some states were hit harder than others – and Rhode Island was hit hardest of all.

Manufacturing companies in Rhode Island cut more workers than their counterparts in any other state from 2001 to 2011, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Moody’s Analytics data.

Rhode Island lost 37.1% of its manufacturing jobs over those 10 years, as the industry’s total labor force dropped from 64,500 workers in 2001 to 40,600 in 2011. The next-biggest declines were in North Carolina (34.9%), Michigan (34.7%) and New Jersey (34.2%).

Other New England states lost a smaller but still sizable number of manufacturing jobs from 2001 to 2011, with declines ranging from 30.1% in Massachusetts to 24.6% in Connecticut. The only state where manufacturing work grew was tiny North Dakota, which eked out a 2.5% increase by adding 600 jobs.

“Companies are concentrating many of their manufacturing investments in states where unions are weak and wages are relatively low,” and they’re also “shopping for lower taxes and regulatory costs,” the WSJ reported. More than 17% of Rhode Island workers belonged to a union in 2011, above the 12% national average.

[FarCenter]

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It looks like a lot of Rhode Island manufacturing was associated with high-cost, short-run military goods.

[hack89]

13. Here is a 2011 directory of manufacturers in RI

High-cost, short-run military goods are a tiny portion of the economy.

http://www.riedc.com/files/Manufacturers%20Directory%202011.pdf

[Snake Alchemist]

12. State bird is the chicken. Not a good sign. nt