As the U.S. economy continues to recover from the Great Recession, manufacturing is seeing drastic improvement. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 520,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs have been created between January 2010 and June 2013. Companies like Ford, GE and Caterpillar are bringing manufacturing operations back to America, and others are following suit. A few states in particular are leading the way in manufacturing expansion.
The National Association of Manufacturers states that Michigan has created more manufacturing jobs than any other state from 2009-2013 with more than 88,000 new jobs. Additionally, Michigan accounts for almost 16.5 percent of the country's manufacturing output, boasting an output of over $66 billion. The state's largest sector is motor vehicle body and parts manufacturing, and it has also had success producing fabricated metal products and machinery according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Texas has been rapidly expanding as well, creating more than 57,000 jobs from 2009-2013 according to NAM. The industry is experiencing a particularly strong rebound in the state capital area of Austin, increasing industrial employment by a whopping 5 percent in 2011 alone according to Forbes. Although the Lone Star state is versatile with growing areas like medical device production, it is best known for high-tech electronics as well as semiconductor firms.
Washington is another big area of manufacturing expansion with more than 31,000 new jobs being created in the aforementioned time period. The state is at the forefront of high-tech U.S. manufacturing with an employment increase of nearly 8 percent in Seattle in the year 2011. Boeing and the rest of the aerospace sector have led this resurgence, accounting for nearly half of these new jobs. Manufacturing has become an important part of daily life in Washington as over 12 percent of the state's output comes from this industry, and this trend does not appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Despite the expansion of U.S. manufacturing in these and other areas, some experts still say the country is a long way from complete recovery. According to a 2012 report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, the first decade of the new millennium has seen a greater decrease in manufacturing than during the Great Depression. With greater national emphasis going to the service and information industries, U.S. manufacturing may never be as great as it once was.
Other states seeing a major resurgence in U.S. manufacturing include Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Illinois. As the government continues to provide incentives to companies that shift their manufacturing operations closer to home, it is likely that the industry will continue to grow with the country's economy. As citizens begin to consume more and more products created through U.S. manufacturing, the trend can only be a good sign for the economy as a whole.
Photo courtesy of PANPOTE at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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