Inexpensive Natural Gas will Boost Manufacturing Growth in the U.S.

The report provides employment and sales growth from 2010 to 2012 for nine manufacturing industries including fabricated metals, machinery and plastics that are energy intensive. It also forecasts expected employment and sales from 2012 to 2020 in the top 100 metro areas, all 363 metros combined, and nationally, for the nine manufacturing sectors.

“This report underscores that the manufacturing sector has been critical in helping the national economy rebound from the recession, especially in metropolitan areas. The energy intensive industry, in particular, has been a key component in the manufacturing expansion and has played a key role in the country’s overall economic recovery,” said Waterbury, CT Mayor Neil O’Leary, Vice-Chair of the USCM Manufacturing Task Force who participated in today’s call. “We are energized to see that employment in this area will continue to grow, which means new jobs locally for residents in our cities.”

Other key findings of the manufacturing report (available at www.usmayors.org) include:

• Over the last three years, metro area manufacturing employment has expanded by an average annual rate of 1.7%. Energy intensive industry, in particular, has been a key component in manufacturing expansion.
• Through 2020, the report projects that energy intensive manufacturing employment will expand by more than 1% annually nationwide, with 72% of those jobs coming in metro areas.
• From 2010 to 2012, energy intensive manufacturing sectors added over 196,000 jobs and increased real sales by $124 billion in the nation’s metro areas. In 2012, metro economies accounted for greater than 78% of the total employment and 82% of the real sales in energy intensive manufacturing industries.
• Expanded demand for new pipelines and mining equipment has resulted in a 17% increase in real sales and a 9.7% increase in employment (2011-2012) in steel, iron, fabricated materials and machinery manufacturing in metro areas.
• The increased availability of natural gas and oil also resulted in a surge in plastic, rubber, resin and chemical manufacturing, resulting in these industries increasing their employment by 2.6% within metro areas.
• The Chicago metro area leads the fabricated metals sector with 64,536 jobs in 2012, slated to grow to 75,757 jobs in 2020, or a 2.0 percent average annual growth rate. The sector’s annual sales growth rate is expected to be 2.8% nationally through 2020.
• The Houston metro leads employment in machinery manufacturing with 53,377 jobs in 2012, projected to grow to 69,591 jobs by 2020. Nationally, the sector is expected to see 3.7% increase in sales through 2020.
• Chicago had the highest level of employment among metros in iron and steel (18,911 jobs); fabricated metals (64,536 jobs); nonmetallic mineral manufacturing (8,816 jobs); and plastics and rubber products manufacturing (29,468 jobs). Houston led employment in organic chemical manufacturing (20,225 jobs); machinery manufacturing (53,377 jobs); resin, rubber and fiber manufacturing (4,473 jobs); and petroleum and coal manufacturing (10,229 jobs). Baton Rouge led in agricultural chemical manufacturing (1,944 jobs).

Read: https://www.usmayors.org/pressreleases/uploads/2014/0320-release-MetroEconomiesManufacturing.pdf

Read: https://www.chem.info/news/2014/03/inexpensive-natural-gas-boosting-manufacturing-jobs?et_cid=3843736&et_rid=626712242&type=cta