Manufacturing - the path to job growth

Manufacturing - the path to job growth

by Mike Klonsinski, executive director, WMEP

In this election season, there has been a lot of focus on the need to create new jobs, on the type of jobs that should be created, and how that job creation should be accomplished.   Fortunately, it appears that most of the candidates share a view that the creation of manufacturing jobs should be a top priority for accelerating an economic recovery.

It’s a welcome change from not-so-distant past attitudes that espoused moving away from manufacturing toward the latest new/next/advanced/high-tech industries.  While the need for new industry growth is important, we consistently see that the most critical economic measures (jobs, exports, gross state product, tax revenue growth) have been driven by the success of the state’s manufacturing base.  It’s also worth noting that new technology industries have their greatest impact when the technology becomes a product that is manufactured in the state.  

Realization is step one, but the challenge still remains:  how can we keep Wisconsin as a leader in manufacturing performance?  We at WMEP don’t pretend to weigh in on the complexities of different manufacturing policies but we do know that higher performing manufacturing firms can better retain business, access new customers, and keep Wisconsinites employed in higher paying jobs.   Our job is to help Wisconsin manufacturers be the best manufacturer that they can be regardless of their operating environment. 

And we have seen results.  In the last year alone, companies that worked with WMEP reported that our joint improvement efforts resulted in the retention and creation of 973 jobs – an average of five jobs per firm surveyed.   It doesn’t sound like much, but that represents 10% employee growth or prevented job loss for a 50 person firm.  Those manufacturing jobs have a ripple effect throughout the local community. 

Helping a small manufacturer save five jobs may not be as sexy as recruiting a large multinational firm, but the day-to-day survival and growth of these Wisconsin firms has to be a fundamental piece of any Wisconsin manufacturing/job creation strategy.   There are currently 8,186 manufacturing firms with less than 100 employees operating in every county of the state.    If each of these firms grew by 5%, Wisconsin would add thousands of high-wage manufacturing jobs, improve local economies throughout the state, and move forward on the path of economic recovery.

Let’s build on the manufacturing base that drives the Wisconsin economy – one firm at a time. 

If you have thoughts to share about manufacturing in Wisconsin, let us know in the comments section of this blog.  WMEP is here to serve you, and I look forward to building this blog into a place where Wisconsin manufacturers go to be heard and get relevant news that matters.