#564 – Kentucky Gained Manufacturing Jobs for 5th Straight Year

Welcome to 2016! Thank you for your loyalty over the past years, and we look forward to continuing to provide our readers with informative and insightful news pertinent to Agracel and the manufacturing industry. We start the year with a little good news for our neighboring state of Kentucky, where Agracel is pleased to have developments.

Kentucky Gained Manufacturing Jobs for 5th Straight Year
IndustryWeek, December 30, 2015

Kentucky is now home to 4,924 manufacturers employing 292,001 workers. This number includes a gain for 3,151 manufacturing jobs from October 2014 to October 2015, according to Manufacturers’ News Inc.

Since October 2010, the state has added 17,665 industrial jobs or 6.4%. Looking at the two largest cities in the state, jobs in Louisville were up 2.7% over the year, and declined 3% in Lexington.

“Kentucky has reinvented itself as a hotbed for auto manufacturing following the recession’s steep losses,” says Tom Dubin, president of MNI.

“Its labor costs are among the lowest in the nation, and its favorable business environment continues to draw manufacturers to the state, with the transportation equipment industry growing by a third since 2010,” Dubin added.

For 2014 gains were led by the transportation equipment industry, which increased 7.4% over the year and has climbed steadily over the past several years, adding 13,036 jobs or 35% since October 2010. Transportation equipment ranks as the state’s largest sector by number of jobs, employing 49,863.

Other Kentucky industries adding jobs over the year included lumber/wood, up 3.4%; fabricated metals, up 2.9%; stone/clay/glass, up 1.7%; paper products, up 1.4%; and food processing, up 1.3%.

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