Manufacturing state by state, 1971-2011

Thursday, June 14th, 2012

Source: Investigative Reporting Workshop analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Download a .csv file of the data used.

Explanation: Circles on the map represent the change in the number of manufacturing jobs from the previous year in the state where they are located; green circles mean that the number of jobs increased, whereas red circles mean the number of manufacturing jobs fell. [ See related story: Nation searches for manufacturing's future ]. Roll over each circle to see the change in the number of manufacturing jobs from 1971 through 2011. Move the scrubber at the top of the map to change the year shown; press the "play" button to make the map automatically advance from one year to the next. The large numbers on the top of the map are the national totals for that year for both total manufacturing jobs, and annual change in manufacturing jobs from the previous year. Bubbles are shown for Hawaii and Alaska; to see them, drag the map to the West and Northwest, respectively.

What Went Wrong

Donald Barlett and James Steele are revisiting America: What Went Wrong, their landmark 1991 newspaper series, in a new project with the Investigative Reporting Workshop. Over the next year, the project team will examine how four decades of public policy has shaped America's ongoing economic crisis.

Issues

Back Story

The authors talk about What Went Wrong

Donald Barlett and James Steele talk about the project, and why they decided to revisit a book they wrote two decades ago, in a series of video clips produced by the Workshop.

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We feature charts, maps, photos and other visualizations that reflect the state of the economy as part of our What Went Wrong project. This column chart shows the growing disparity between what individuals and corporations pay in taxes. In the 1950s, the difference was 22 percent. Recent figures show the difference is 62 percent.

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Read an Excerpt

The Betrayal of the American Dream on Google Books

Check out the first chapter of Barlett and Steele's 2012 book here.