Lorianne DiSabato / Flickr
The Obama Administration has singled out reviving the manufacturing sector as a major priority this year
Given that manufacturing got prominent play in the State of the State address and is a key piece of President Obama’s new jobs initiative, StateImpact’s in full-on data-slicing mode.
First, a bit of background. It’s well-known in the state’s business circles that, despite the decline of mills, manufacturing is still New Hampshire’s powerhouse industry. Smart Manufacturing/High-Technology is the state’s largest economic sector, far outpacing tourism, which is often thought of as a “signature” industry for New Hampshire.
And all the recent political buzz about manufacturing got us wondering…where are these economic juggernauts concentrated?
And it just so happens, the US Census Bureau had our back on that. Continue Reading →
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President Obama is pushing for a renewed focus on manufacturing
Recently, the White House has had manufacturing on the brain. From the State of the Union address to Vice President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Albany Engineered Composites in Rochester, the Obama administration has been pushing its plan to create more jobs in the manufacturing sector.
This renewed focus got us thinking about what New Hampshire’s fabrication sector looks like now, and how it compares to other states in the region.
And fortunately, the US Census Bureau recently released a nifty interactive map that helps us do exactly that. The map itself is well worth checking out. But for our purposes, we’ll be looking at information from the interactive table feature . After fussing with a bit of data, here’s a screenshot of the table we created:
Continue Reading →
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NH carries some of the heaviest credit card debt in the country.
Given the Granite State’s reputation as a stalwart of Yankee frugality, a recent bit of reporting from investor blog Wall Street 24/7 caught us a bit by surprise. The blog quoted a report by credit education site CreditKarma.com. The site mined data from more than 300,000 users to get a bead on the country’s personal debt situation. Charles B. Stockdale writes:
“One of the driving factors for states whose residents owe the most in credit card debt is that they are wealthy states. Nine out of the 10 states with the most in credit card debt have among the highest median household incomes. Alternatively, six of the 10 states with the smallest amounts of credit card debt have among the lowest median incomes…
Many high-debt states also have high costs of living relative to other states….When people must pay more for consumer goods, they often end up with larger amounts of debt. The opposite case is also true. States whose residents pay less for goods have less debt… Continue Reading →
