Job Outlook Brightens From U.S. Factories to Fracking

[Purveyor]

By Shobhana Chandra - Wed Jan 11 15:52:10 GMT 2012

Manufacturing and mining are set to power U.S. job gains again this year, from auto assembly plants in Ohio to the oil and gas fields of North Dakota.

The two industries combined helped spark the biggest annual job gains for the economy in five years in 2011, with factory payrolls expanding the most in 14 years and mining adding more jobs than any period in the past three decades, according to Labor Department figures.

Economists Peter Cappelli and John Silvia say those gains are likely to be extended in 2012. The improvement may spread beyond factory floors and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, used to drill for oil: retailers, the leisure industry and even construction may also benefit.

Last year’s employment increases “are good signs for this year,” said Cappelli, a labor economist and director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “Manufacturing is the most important story because it has spillover effects on other industries in a way that services may not.”

MORE...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-11/u-s-job-outlook-brightens-from-ohio-factories-to-dakota-fracking-economy.html

[gateley]

1. Kind of OT, but I really feel for those economies who would benefit from undesirable industries like

fracking.

I recall when Seattle was all behind the SST being built by Boeing. The general reaction (at least among people I knew) was "I'm sure it would be fine and they could ensure it wouldn't hurt the environment." Thinking like that.

And as I look back, it wasn't as though Seattle was in dire straits economically. We probably just wanted more revenue and jobs.

These poor people are in dire need of income, yet the option available to them is ultimately harmful. My heart aches.