Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called on America to build more in her recent speech in Washington, D.C. But the state’s performance during her administration has fallen far short of the governor’s claims.

The Detroit News looked at Michigan’s manufacturing trends prior to the speech. Over Whitmer’s six years as governor, Michigan lost 27,600 manufacturing jobs, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only New York, at 30,100 fewer manufacturing jobs, and California, at 65,000 fewer manufacturing jobs, had steeper declines over that time, according to a Detroit News review. The largest jumps have been in Texas, which added 71,200 manufacturing jobs, and Florida, which added 48,500.

Notice that the states at both ends of the spectrum are big states. Larger states tend, unsurprisingly, to gain and lose more jobs than smaller states. When we compare states by looking at the percentage of jobs lost rather than raw numbers, Michigan fares a little better.

The Detroit News article does this comparison but mostly brushes it aside, noting that weaker performers are "less reliant on manufacturing than Michigan." But there's an important lesson missed by looking at manufacturing jobs alone. The states losing their manufacturing jobs are also losing other types of jobs. States that gain manufacturing jobs are adding other jobs too.

There’s no secret recipe to gaining manufacturing jobs. And manufacturing jobs are not special types of jobs that states need to target. Good business climates lead to more jobs, including manufacturing jobs. The manufacturing industry doesn’t need special privileges or extra attention from state lawmakers.

Over a recent six-year period, states that increased the number of jobs they had in manufacturing also increased their total number of jobs overall, as the graph below shows. Michigan is the orange dot in the graph, falling below average in overall job growth and in manufacturing jobs.

Perhaps manufacturing gets so much attention because of claims that America has deindustrialized. Rumors of the death of American manufacturing are exaggerations. The value of American manufacturing steadily grows and is at an all-time high, as the following chart shows.

If policymakers want to increase the number of manufacturing jobs in Michigan, they should focus their efforts on creating a climate that encourages and supports the creation of all types of jobs.

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