Report gives Pa.’s economic performance a C-

In a Keystone Research Center report released today, Pa. got a C- for its overall economic performance and a D- for job growth.

The Keystone Research Center released its annual State of Working Pennsylvania report today. The report looked at economic indicators like job growth and wages and income and compared how Pennsylvania stacks up to other states as policy shifted toward government spending cuts on a national and state level after 2010.

The Keystone Research Center gave the state an overall grade of C-.

Pennsylvania received its lowest grade (a D-) in the area of job growth. The state is also performing a little below average in wages and income and what’s called labor market slack, which looks at unemployment and underemployment indicators. It received an average C grade in economic growth.

Stephen Herzenberg is an economist and the executive director of the Keystone Research Center. He spoke about the report in an interview with Harrisburg station WITF.

“Our view is that the Pennsylvania economy is still not doing well from the perspective of middle class families,” Herzenberg said.

The left-leaning Keystone Research Center concluded Pennsylvania’s recovery from the 2008 recession has been “slow and painful”—and it puts at least part of the blame on federal and state austerity measures. For example, the report pointed to policy decisions like the state’s education funding cuts and the delay in investment in transportation infrastructure as factors that have contributed to poor job growth.

Read the full report here.