Manufacturing’s New Mass. Momentum
Healey
The continuing public perception that Worcester’s manufacturing sector is in decline was once again corrected in another recent economic study issued in April by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
This report not only chronicled the continued importance of manufacturing throughout the country’s various metropolitan areas, it also highlighted the shift to advanced manufacturing occurring in metropolitan areas such as Worcester. Thanks to such companies as EMC, Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems and Intel, four of our area’s top five manufacturers, computers and electronics continue to be the No. 1 industry sector in Central Massachusetts, helping rank the Worcester metro area 15th nationally, with 10.9 percent of all jobs in the manufacturing sector.
The growth of the manufacturing industry is very important to the state because the sector is the third-highest contributor to the gross state product (GSP). To put this into perspective, manufacturing’s contribution to the GSP is 6 percent more than all of the GSP contribution from the healthcare and social assistance sectors. So, regardless of what some may think, manufacturing statewide and in the Worcester area is critical to our overall economy. The Brookings study demonstrates that 40 percent of the area’s manufacturing jobs have average annual salaries of $69,000 to $98,000. Manufacturing in Worcester is no longer the dirty and dangerous jobs of old, but rather, skilled jobs in clean work environments, requiring an education or a high knowledge of specialty skills. Worcester was ranked 19th nationally for having more than 23 percent of its manufacturing jobs classified as “very high-tech manufacturing.”
Despite this good news, there’s a challenge in how to create a second growth miracle as manufacturing productivity increases are beginning to level off after 15 years. If productivity growth ebbs, it will be harder to contain costs which, unchecked, will stall future growth. This situation is compounded further with our educational limitations that constrain our support of the required skill levels necessary to boost production. This is yet another serious challenge to the continued growth of our manufacturing economy. The Brookings report noted that Massachusetts can meet these challenges, citing Gov. Patrick’s recent launch of the Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, which focuses on promoting manufacturing, improving education and training, providing technical assistance and improving access to financing for small and medium-size manufacturers, and reducing the cost of doing business in the state.
Support for the collaborative and its initiatives received a big boost with its inclusion in the recently released jobs billsissued by the state House of Representatives. This bill offers a number of initiatives for manufacturing that focus on technical assistance rather than compliance. At its presentation, House Speaker Robert DeLeo said he “remains a believer that manufacturing has a future in Massachusetts” and is willing to enable the state’s manufacturing community to make that future a reality.
For the sake of economic growth in the state and the Worcester area, that kind of support is more than welcome.n
Jack Healy is director of the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP), based in Worcester.
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