Which U.S. Regions Are Doing Well in Manufacturing?

Americans have grown accustomed to bad news coming out of the manufacturing sector. Over the last several decades, as the United States has financialized its economy, manufacturing jobs have fled overseas or disappeared altogether. Some areas, however, are seeing their industrial golden age right now, with booming gains in manufacturing jobs and real, long-term expansion of their manufacturing sectors. Which areas are booming, and why, is worth knowing.

Houston is the fastest-growing metropolitan economy in the United States. It's one of only four regions to have come out of the recession with a net increase in manufacturing jobs, and the city shows no signs of slowing, let alone reversing, its positive indicators anytime soon.

Houston's prosperity is partly the result of misfortune elsewhere. Hurricane Katrina seriously damaged other ports along the Gulf Coast, but left Houston's shipping infrastructure intact, driving shipping traffic into the city. Chronic instability in OPEC countries has renewed interest in domestic oil and driven investment in the energy sector, which is still Houston's leading source of manufacturing jobs. These events, combined with widening trade links to the Mexican energy sector and the cross-border trade that ensues, have put Houston in an outstanding position for attracting and keeping manufacturing jobs.

At the other end of the industrial pipeline, and seemingly a world away from the sunshine and heat of Texas, is another manufacturing success story: Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue. The manufacturing industry in this area has always depended on massive state investment in aerospace fabrication. This is where Boeing built its flagship plant during World War II, and it's here Boeing is building its newest commercial aircraft. The emphasis on domestic production for new designs has shifted resources toward the area and driven it to the third-ranked spot on newgeography's list of manufacturing hotspots.

Some metropolitan areas are adding manufacturing jobs for reasons that aren't as obvious as oil is for Houston or aerospace is for Seattle. One such place is Sacramento, which has been growing steadily for decades without any single industry driving the manufacturing there. Rather, the city's success in manufacturing stems from its ideal position as a transportation hub and from its well-educated workforce. Both factors make the Sacramento-Arden Arcade-Roseville corridor attractive to high-tech manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, as well as low-tech and boutique manufacturers, such as the artisan glass and craft industries that cling to the city's southern corridor.

There is no single route to success in building a strong manufacturing economy. Extraction is still the key to Houston's growth, while state investment in aerospace drives Seattle. Sacramento brings a confluence of advantages and leverages them into diverse manufacturing jobs for its residents without any single industry dominating its landscape. Each of these regions shows, in its own way, a different route to economic recovery and the return of lost manufacturing jobs.

(Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles / freedigitalphotos.net)