Obviously there are no easy answers for Pennsylvania's continuing loss of manufacturing jobs. But state officials must become more determined than ever to find ways to reverse the alarming trend, if manufacturing is to remain alive in the commonwealth.

Latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics show that, through the month of October, seasonally adjusted manufacturing employment in the state stood at 675,600 jobs — 12,300 fewer manufacturing jobs than at the beginning of this year.

According to the information, which was contained in a publication of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association, the current total represents a decline of 16,300 manufacturing jobs from January 2004 and a loss of 59,800 manufacturing jobs since January 2003.

That loss-of-jobs pace cannot be maintained if the commonwealth is to remain a force in the manufacturing sector.

The situation is ripe for tax and other incentives to both halt the exodus and entice new companies to start up here or move here, bringing with them new employment opportunities.

Troubling amid the new report is that competitor states have experienced much smaller manufacturing job losses or have gained such jobs during the first 10 months of this year. The state of Missouri added 6,500 total manufacturing jobs between January and October, and Texas has reported a 6,200-job gain.

Of competitor states that have experienced losses, Virginia has checked in with just 1,600 lost positions — a pittance compared with Pennsylvania's latest total.

Nationally, U.S. manufacturing employment stabilized in late 2003, no thanks to Pennsylvania.

The year 2005 has seen state lawmakers and the Rendell administration consumed by budget-preparation snags and the brouhaha over the legislative pay raise. Purported tax inroads have been made, but by no means enough to reverse manufacturing's plight anytime soon.

Meanwhile, a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business has revealed less optimism among owners of small businesses in the commonwealth. Only small-business owners in New Jersey and New York were said to be more pessimistic about their business environment.

The bottom line is that Harrisburg lawmakers need to become more obsessed with improving the state's manufacturing climate and less obsessed with partisan politics that, in the end, achieve very little that is noteworthy.

Any manufacturing state that ignores the plight of manufacturing needs a wake-up call at the ballot box.