Survey: Manufacturing Employment in Pennsylvania Declines Slightly

September 15, 2015 | By Business Wire News

EVANSTON, Ill.

Manufacturers’ News, Inc./– Manufacturing employment in Pennsylvania declined slightly over the past year, reports the 2016 Pennsylvania Manufacturers Register^®, an industrial database and directory published by Manufacturers’ News, Inc. (MNI) Evanston, IL. According to MNI’s database of manufacturers, Pennsylvania lost 3,465 industrial jobs from July 2014 to July 2015, or about a half percent.

MNI reports Pennsylvania is now home to 16,339 manufacturers employing 794,983 workers. Employment in the state’s industrial sector was little changed over the past five years, with jobs down 1.2% since July of 2010, after dropping nearly 8% from July 2008-July 2010. Industrial job losses since 2010 were offset by gains in the oil/gas extraction sector, which added over 4,000 jobs even as employment in many other sectors declined.

“Like many states in the mid-Atlantic region, Pennsylvania struggles with high business costs and global competition,” says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912. “However, its highly educated workforce and abundance of capital have drawn more innovative companies to the state in recent years. This, combined with growth in the energy sector has helped to stem losses, and we may even see the beginning of a turnaround.”

Declines were spread out across most sectors and included furniture/fixtures, down 6.8%; medical instruments/related products, down 5.2%; stone/clay/glass, down 4.5%; transportation equipment, down 3.6%; primary metals, down 3%; printing/publishing, down 2.9%; and paper products, down 1.5%.

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A small increase in the food processing industry was one of the bright spots from this year’s survey, with jobs up 1%.

MNI’s city data shows manufacturing jobs in Philadelphia declined 1.2% over the year to 40,736 workers.

Established in 1912, Manufacturers’ News, Inc. is the nation’s oldest and largest publisher of industrial information. MNI offers a variety of tailored solutions to help customers connect with 430,000 manufacturers and suppliers. MNI’s industrial database subscription service EZ Select (www.ezselect.com) allows users to tap into a live interactive database of manufacturers, while its industrial search engine IndustryNet (www.industrynet.com) connects buyers and suppliers and allows users to view profiles and obtain competitive quotes. For more information, contact Manufacturers’ News, Inc. 847-864-7000. http://www.manufacturersnews.com