Midwest Partnership EDC salutes the region’s manufacturers
Iowa is currently home to roughly 6,110 manufacturing firms, according to an annual “Manufacturing in Iowa” report compiled by Iowa State University’s Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS). Measured by employment size, Iowa’s manufacturing sector ranks fourth among Iowa’s major economic sectors. Midwest Partnership recognizes the manufacturers in Adair, Audubon, Greene, and Guthrie Counties, which provide 441, 234, 703, and 216 jobs respectively.
Together, manufacturing firms form the second largest sector of Iowa business activity (behind “Financial Activities”) and represent 18.3 percent of Iowa’s total gross domestic product. Manufacturers contributed $31.2 billion to the state’s economy in 2014 and exported $12.7 billion worth of manufactured goods to other countries.
The industry has evolved drastically with the implementation of ever-changing technology. Today’s diverse careers in manufacturing include researchers, engineers, designers, computer programmers/operators, fabricators, assemblers, welders, machinists, electricians, operations managers, human resources, and sales/marketing professionals. Iowa manufacturing jobs paid an average salary of $54,420 in 2014, according to CIRAS research. But manufacturers across Iowa nevertheless are seeing and predicting a shortage of qualified workers in the future.
“There is an increasing demand for highly skilled professionals in the manufacturing sector who can design, program, process engineer and operate the latest technology of equipment available to us,” said Tim Greene, owner at Quality Machine of Iowa Inc. “Across the country, the average age of a manufacturing employee is 56, and between now and 2020 there will be an unprecedented shortage of skilled workers who will need to be replaced.”
Promotional efforts throughout Iowa’s 99 counties for Manufacturing Day and Manufacturing Month are being coordinated by CIRAS, Iowa community colleges and the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) as part of an overall effort to elevate advanced manufacturing.
For more information about Manufacturing Day, including a complete schedule of events in Iowa and elsewhere, go to www.mfgday.com.
The “Manufacturing in Iowa” report is available at www.ciras.iastate.edu/Manufacturing_In_Iowa_2015.pdf.
