MNI: Mass. manufacturing hindered by high business costs
Industrial employment in Massachusetts grew at a slower clip between 2013 and 2014 than the national average, which Illinois-based trade publication Manufacturers’ News Inc. (MNI) said is a result of high business costs in Massachusetts.
According to data collected by MNA, Massachusetts manufacturers added 1,017 jobs from August 2013 to August 2014, a growth rate of less than one percent. That’s compared with the national average gain of 1.3 percent reported by the Labor Department for the same period, MNI said.
MNI said Massachusetts is now home to 8,166 manufacturers, which employ 372,043 workers.
“Massachusetts’ educated labor pool, access to capital and stronghold in innovative technologies, particularly in pharmaceuticals, continues to draw some investment and support industrial growth,” MNI President Tom Dubin said in a statement. “However, high business costs have kept Massachusetts industry (from) keeping pace with U.S. growth overall.”
The largest yearly gain in Bay State manufacturing jobs was in the chemicals industry, which saw employment increase by 5.9 percent. But MNI said that was offset somewhat by a 1.8-percent loss in the medical instruments sector, which employs about 50,000 — the largest number of Massachusetts industrial workers, MNI said.
Other sectors that added jobs were printing and publishing and fabricated metals. Losses were reported in primary metals, paper products, furniture and textiles.
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