It’s an embarrassment, and it ought to be front and center in the upcoming race for governor. Among all 50 states, only Maine and Louisiana experienced a decline in economic activity last year.

We’re often skeptical of such rankings; too often they are compiled and promoted by groups with an interest in tax policy.

But these dismal statistics come from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. The study, which was publicized by a story in the New York Times Thursday, compared job growth, unemployment rate, wage income and factory workers’ average weekly hours.

Maine lost 1,700 manufacturing jobs in 2005 and 800 financial sector jobs.

Louisiana’s bottom-rung ranking is clearly related to the devastation left by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. So, had it not been for the ravages of nature, Maine may have been all alone at the bottom of the list.

The state had hoped that growth in other sectors, like education, health and professional services, would offset the decline. That happened to some extent, but it wasn’t enough to offset the losses. Mainers thrown out of high-paying jobs are not finding equal or better jobs in other fields.

According to the New York Times story, Maine’s job growth last year was flat, compared to 0.6 percent in New England and 1.5 percent for the nation.

And this year isn’t shaping up much better. So far, some 400 workers have lost jobs at the Georgia-Pacific tissue plant in Old Town. The Bangor Daily News recently reported that if a buyer is not found for that mill, an additional 1,000 related jobs could be lost in the region. Georgia-Pacific agreed to work with the state for 60 days after the closing to help find a buyer, but that deadline expired a month ago.

And, the impending closure of the Brunswick Naval Air Station promises to have a similarly negative ripple effect in this area.

Conservatives have long argued that Maine’s tax and regulatory system leaves the state with an unfriendly business climate, making it difficult to recruit new businesses or even keep existing businesses going.

Gov. John Baldacci will no doubt get an earful of that argument from challenger Republican challenger Chandler Woodcock between now and November’s election.

Baldacci has a ready list of the things Maine has done to become more competitive. But the Federal Reserve study speaks for itself: We’re still losing ground.