Take a look at the heat map of proposed Chrysler dealer closures posted by the Wall Street Journal. The graphic is titled “Hardest Hit States”. What States will be hit hardest by this closure? If you included California, Texas or Florida in you analysis then you would probably be mistaken. But it is likely that you missed at least 3 of the top 5, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
The problem with the WSJ map is that it doesn’t account for either population or availability of other dealers nearby. Something that Chrysler surely considered when creating the list. Simply by factoring in population, a method itself not perfect, we see that the areas losing the most will be rural areas and the rust belt. Areas that will have the least ability to cover the job losses with other industries. A real analysis of the problem should address not only population, but driving time to the nearest alternative dealership and the economic impact to the local community and it’s ability to absorb the losses.
As the Chrysler reorganization moves forward the question to be asked is: “Is Chrysler and, through its approval, the US abandoning a whole segment of the country”? The specific question I am asking now is, “Was the poor use of statistics by the Wall Street Journal intentional to shape opinion or was it merely laziness”?
Below are the top 15 States ranked according to dealerships lost per 1 million people (2008 population numbers):
| State | Population | Dealers Lost | Lost/M |
| ND | 641481 | 8 | 12.47 |
| WY | 532668 | 5 | 9.39 |
| WV | 1814468 | 17 | 9.37 |
| SD | 804194 | 7 | 8.70 |
| IA | 3002555 | 22 | 7.33 |
| KS | 2802134 | 16 | 5.71 |
| MO | 5911605 | 27 | 4.57 |
| NH | 1315809 | 6 | 4.56 |
| NE | 1783432 | 8 | 4.49 |
| PA | 12448279 | 53 | 4.26 |
| MT | 967440 | 4 | 4.13 |
| OH | 11485910 | 47 | 4.09 |
| MI | 10003422 | 40 | 4.00 |
| LA | 4410796 | 17 | 3.85 |
| UT | 2736424 | 10 | 3.65 |
My thoughts are with those who have learned that their jobs are at risk today. They join many of my friends and some family members who are struggling to find and hold onto employment. We need to pull together and make the best of this situation, our best days are always ahead.
I also have data tables suitable for use with Google Map gadgets if you need them.