Wednesday, January 22, 2014

As Gov. Bryant prepares to deliver the State of the State, more evidence of economic failure under his leadership

Here in a few minutes, Gov. Phil Bryant (R) will deliver the State of the State address.  And there's little doubt he will tout the numbers of jobs he's "created" since becoming governor.  There's only one problem: Under Bryant's leadership, we're losing jobs as fast as we're gaining them.  This is not a new trend.

Today in Mississippi, there are fewer jobs than there were in November of 1998*, even though there are approximately 250,000 more Mississippians (1998 population vs. 2013 population).  Let that sink in for a minute.  And not only are the number of jobs stagnant, average pay is declining.  In the last 5 years, the median income in Mississippi dropped $3,000.

Now there is word this afternoon that Lane Furniture will be closing its Saltillo, MS plant, costing us another 480 jobs.  Good luck with that, Gov. Bryant.

*Make sure you change the data range at the top of the BLS page.

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