There’s been a lot of depressing news about the economy lately, so this Sunday Numbers will feature a possible solution, also from the article.

From a sidebar below the article: “”You can’t create a policy model where foreign powers can export to the U.S. and [at the same time] raise barriers to U.S. imports and expect our companies to compete in those markets,” Wood said, adding that countries like Germany and China have tariffs between 17 and 20 percent while U.S. tariffs range around 5 percent.”

Wood is Lloyd Wood, of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition. The approach seems to make sense, especially considering how high other country’s tariffs are. What’s the point of competing against other countries’ labor forces when companies can pay those workers less and provide so many fewer benefits? It is cheaper for consumers, but the consumers are going to run out of money if breadwinners have no jobs left.

The study, which focused on the five largest metropolitan areas on the East Coast (New York, Philly, Washington, Atlanta and Miami), pointed out that cities with big economic growth tend to have large numbers of immigrants.

Exactly how much the two affect each other isn’t clear. Places with economic growth will generally attract immigrants, because there are jobs. What isn’t clear is whether immigrants, by their contribution to the labor market, make the economy stronger. A Brookings Institute study found in 2008 that “nearly 75 percent of the region’s labor-force growth since 2000 could be attributed to immigrants,” so there is at least some evidence that immigrants actually increase a city’s economic benefit.

Philly is included in the study (linked to above), and it shows what most Philly workers already know: the economy isn’t so good here. But it also shows that growth in immigrants here is lower than most cities.

From the study: “a statistical analysis of the country’s largest 25 metropolitan areas supports the conclusion that economic growth and growth in the immigrant workforce go hand in hand.”

When you add in the Brookings Institute study, Philly’s problems may be partly due to the fact that there aren’t many immigrants here. This isn’t the easiest realization to come to, but it might be the most accurate.

The last paragraphs of the story bring out some troubling facts:

“Good jobs” are those that can support a decent standard of living with health and retirement benefits. EPI and the Center for Budget Priorities define that as a job paying at least $14.51 an hour or $30,182 a year.
Over the last 30 years, according to a survey by Algernon Austin of the EPI, the number of jobs that meet that standard have fallen from 34.5 percent to 27.6 percent.
In other words, only one in four jobs in America support a minimal standard of living for a family of four and provide health and retirement benefits.
We are becoming a nation of people who work every day and still need help meeting our basic needs.
If big financial institutions needed a TARP, American workers need a tourniquet.”

The median wage in Philly is about $35,000, which means half of workers here make less than that. Considering how expensive this city can be, that’s a lot of people skimming awfully close to an unlivable wage. Elmer Smith is right: big business may be too important to fail, but so are families in Philly.

Recent good news concerning the unemployment rate has brought the stock market back to life, but these numbers may be a cautionary tale when it comes to real job creation.

Construction is only one sector, but it’s also a very concrete one, if you will. While the financial sector provides funding for construction projects, it can only do so much. For construction, manufacturing and trade and transportation to come back, there has to be a lot more demand for new construction and housing projects.

The overall news about jobs in Philadelphia and in the country is getting better, but there’s still reason to be cautious, especially when it comes to construction and housing.

Editor’s Note: Sunday Numbers is a weekly feature highlighting a statistic in the news or an unexpected number. Enjoy it with your coffee!

The cause for the complaint, from the article: “14 female employees held a work stoppage at 9 a.m. Nov. 12 to request raises. The complaint alleges that all 14 women were fired within the hour, as were 18 male employees who also stopped work in solidarity.”

Some interesting commentary from the comments below the article. One commenter said, and others imply, that the plant employed illegal  immigrant workers.

I’m working on a story on immigrant labor now, which will attempt to shine a light on just how immigrants affect the economy. Their effect may not be what the rhetoric assumes. Stay tuned.

Maybe the most interesting piece of the article is this: “Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate for October was 8.8 percent, the same as September but 3 percent higher than last October. The national rate is 10.2 percent for October, up from 9.8 percent in September and from 6.6 percent last October.”

The numbers show that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is now almost 1.5 percent lower than the national rate. This is good, relatively speaking. Last October, though, it was .2 percent higher than the national rate. In other words, Philly’s unemployment rose, but we seem to be doing OK because other parts of the country are doing terrible.

This potentially lose-lose situation may be the biggest obstacle facing the long-delayed dredging project for the Delaware River. Environmentalists and the Government Accountability Office’s reports paint a picture of a project that could damage the environment, and probably will cost more – and bring in less – than the Army Corps of Engineers says it will.

The project is an effort to deepen the Delaware River from 40 to 45 feet. The Army Corps of Engineers, supported by Ed Rendell and some Philly and Jersey port organizations, planned the dredging in the early 1990s. It has been beset by delays and legal challenges from environmentalists and Delaware state officials ever since.

The Corps and the project’s supporters say the deepening project will bring jobs to Philly, both through the dredging itself, and the long-term benefits of having a river that can hold larger freight and oil containers. Its detractors say there will be harmful environmental effects, and will bring profits and jobs only to non-local oil and freight companies, if it succeeds at all.

“In 1996 already, [the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority’s] own experts said there are too many other limitations. Forty-five feet is not going to bring them to the Delaware River,” Maya K. van Rossum, the leader of the Delaware Riverkeeper network, said.

The Government Accountability Office has released several reports saying the profits have been exaggerated. From a 2006 report: “For the Delaware Deepening Project, GAO found credible support for only about $13.3 million a year in project benefits compared to the $40.1 million a year claimed in the Corps’ analysis.”

Specifically, the GAO found the Corps had “misapplied commodity rate projections, miscalculated trade route distances, and included benefits for some import

and export traffic that had seriously declined over the last decade.” Another GAO report is due out early next year.

Van Rossum said the dredging itself probably won’t bring more traffic up the channel, but will only make the traffic that exists now more efficient. Also, there are private channels that have to be deepened on the oil companies’ tab.

“None of the oil companies have committed to the dredging project. They have to deepen their private channels to hook in to the main channels,” van Rossum said.

The Army Corps defends the project vigorously on its Web site, which includes a page debunking what it says are myths about the project and its economic viability.

The PRPA also supports the project strongly.

“It’s like having the most modern mall in the world with no highway leading to it. We need a nicer road, and specifically a deeper one,” said Joe Menta, a PRPA spokesman.

As to the claims detractors of the project have put forth, Menta said there were issues early on in the project, but it had been improved.

“We think the facts are on our side,” Menta said. As for profitability, Menta admitted direct jobs – mostly port jobs – from the project will only number several hundred. When it comes to indirect jobs, “you’re talking in the tens of thousands,” Menta said. “These aren’t Walmart jobs. They don’t pay $8 or $9 an hour.”

Van Rossum said in the end, the benefits don’t add up to enough.

“You can’t outweigh the detractions,” van Rossum said. Until the GAO’s report comes out in March, though, it may be difficult to tell which way the scales will tip.

A representative for the GAO said they could not comment on the findings of the report while research was ongoing.

This LaborPHL exclusive was written by Stephen Zook.