Part of the reason Colorado is among states trailing the rest of the nation economically is that it lacks manufacturing muscle.

“There is a fairly strong correlation between job growth and manufacturing,” Broomfield economist Gary Horvath tells The Denver Post. And just 5.8 percent of statewide jobs were in manufacturing last year. That’s down from 11.2 percent in 1990.

Nationally, the economic picture is still blurry. While there’s talk of a modest recovery in some news reports, others are grim. The Associated Press, for instance, reports that $26 billion in federal aid probably can’t save the jobs of about 600,000 to 700,000 local and state employees and contractors who work for those governments.

State and local governments have let go 169,000 workers already this year, and payrolls have shrunk by 316,000 since hitting a high point in 2008.

Needless to say, there’s lots of competition for jobs these days, and looking your best is part of the deal—but not in all occupations. It turns out that for women applying for traditionally “masculine” jobs, looks can be a disadvantage. Professor Stefanie Johnson of the University of Colorado-Denver Business School tells Britain’s Daily Mail, “In these professions, being attractive was highly detrimental to women.”