Pennsylvania continues to be anemic in regard to improving the state's manufacturing jobs climate. Also anemic is the concern state officials have been targeting at the problem, as confirmed by their lack of success at implementing incentives that would help reverse the worsening situation.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pennsylvania lost 1,700 manufacturing jobs from October to November, bringing total seasonally adjusted manufacturing employment down to 673,900. State labor statistics covering 2005 confirmed what the federal government is saying but indicate that an additional 300 manufacturing jobs were lost in December.

The state says manufacturing employment stood at 673,600 at the end of 2005's final month.

The Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association, in its Jan. 17 "Bulletin," makes the troubling observation that "if Pennsylvania were to continue losing manufacturing jobs at the current rate, manufacturing employment in the commonwealth would be wiped out by November 2037.

Since January 2003, the state has lost 61,500 manufacturing jobs.

Instead of addressing the kind of concern that should be directed at manufacturing's doldrums, state officials seem content to hide behind other numbers. They are quick to emphasize that the state gained about 64,400 jobs last year, 300 of which came about in December, and that Pennsylvania's manufacturing jobs loss is part of a national trend.

Stephen Herzenberg, an economist and executive director of the liberal Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg, said manufacturing numbers in the United States and other industrialized countries will continue to drop as workplaces become more efficient. But efficiencies should not doom manufacturing in Pennsylvania, as they seem hellbent on doing based on current numbers.

This state needs a pro-manufacturing initiative, and that is a topic that should be on the gubernatorial and legislative campaign trails this year.