Carsey Institute Publishes Brief on State of Working New Hampshire 2007
By Beth Potier, Media Relations
October 31, 2007
New Hampshire continues to enjoy the lowest unemployment rates in New England
and labor force participation rates that top both regional and national averages,
according to a new issue brief from the Carsey Institute at UNH.
But the brief, “The State of Working New Hampshire 2007,” cautions
that wage growth in the state has not kept pace with rising costs of living.
The brief, which updates the Carsey Institute’s “The State of
Working New Hampshire 2006,” was produced in cooperation with the Economic
Policy Institute. It notes that while New Hampshire workers fared better than
the rest of the region and the nation in 2006, they have not benefited to the
same extent that they did during the economic expansion of the 1990s.
“New Hampshire’s recovery since the recession in 2001 has been
slow,” says brief author Allison Churilla, a policy fellow at the Carsey
Institute and a Ph.D. candidate in sociology. “Despite high growth in
productivity, by and large, New Hampshire workers have not seen similar growth
in their paychecks or in jobs.”
Among the brief’s major findings:
· New Hampshire had a 71 percent labor force participation rate in
2006, compared to 66 percent nationally and 68 percent in New England. The
labor force participation rate has dropped since 2000, when it stood at 73
percent, a decline that is largely related to lower rates of participation
among young workers, male workers and workers with a high school degree or
less.
· Job growth was positive between 2000 and 2006, led by the health
care and education sectors, but manufacturing jobs continued to decline. Manufacturing
was the state’s largest industry in 2000, when it employed more than
100,000 workers, but the industry lost 25,000 jobs over the last six years
and dropped to the fourth-largest industry by 2006.
· Median wage growth in New Hampshire was eight percent between 2000
and 2006, steeper than the national median wage growth of three percent. But
since 2000, median monthly rental payments in New Hampshire have increased
19 percent and median mortgage payments by 21 percent.
“Policy makers and others need to consider those workers that have not
benefited during the so-called jobless recovery that has characterized the
state’s economic recovery since 2001,” Churilla said.
The issue brief is available to download here.
For more information, go to www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu.
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