California loses 127,000 Manufacturing Jobs

California was the second-largest loser of manufacturing jobs — 123,400 — over the past year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only Ohio lost more more jobs than the Golden State: 127,000. A report by the Milken Institute released earlier this summer reached a similar conclusion, but noted that the state is hemorrhaging high-tech manufacturing jobs at an even higher rate than in traditional manufacturing industries. California’s employment in this high-wage, high-skill segment is down 23 percent from 2000 levels, as opposed to declines nationally of 19 percent and the peer states’ average of 16 percent. In fact, from 2003 to 2007, encompassing the recovery of the high-tech sector, the peer states gained 24,000 high-tech manufacturing jobs while California lost almost 16,000.

“Widespread misconceptions about the manufacturing sector in California are part of the problem,” said Perry Wong, senior economist and one of the authors of the report. “People don’t understand that manufacturing is an integral part of the high-tech and clean-tech economy. If Californians want to build the future economic recovery on high-tech and retain highly skilled workers, they have to address the underlying issues of this sector now.”