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Originally Posted by pj3000
Eastern Masshole  |
Hey, at least I recognize it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pj3000
The only reason I really know about the Springfield area/its "rustbelt" characteristics is because a research colleague of mine was from Chicopee and we studied environmental health together related to the de-industrialization of our hometowns -- mine Erie, PA and his Springfield, MA. The loss of manufacturing jobs was quite similar and the resulting poverty and heath effects were startlingly similar between the two places.
I'm not sure if there was an overall net loss of jobs in the area. One thing about overall job numbers though is that they can be quite misleading since service sector jobs are far more often than not low-wage in comparison to the manufacturing jobs they're "replacing". That's been a characteristic of rust belt cities for awhile now -- unemployment numbers that aren't that bad, but median income numbers going way down, as a job at Wal-Mart doesn't pay nearly as much as a union job at GE or Westinghouse or Pratt & Whitney.
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I think you’ve spelled out why Boston and Philly never felt like classic Rust Belt cities; manufacturing employment losses were offset by roughly equal numbers of new industry jobs (eds, biotech, pharma, IT etc. - the Massachusetts Miracle) so as income levels never went down. They actually went up. But that’s state-wide; I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the Pioneer Valley metro saw drops in income during the 70s and 80s. That being said, Springfield is only 10% down from its peak 1960 population.