Manufacturing Employment Recovering in Utah

After suffering two recessions since 2000, employment in Utah’s manufacturing industries has been improving since 2010 and is projected to do so into 2013. With the most recent downturn, manufacturing employment peaked in 2007 and thereafter commenced four years of declining employment figures. As figure 1 shows, if the trajectory from the turnaround continues, manufacturing employment can match previous peaks in only a few years. The 2013 forecast places employment at 122,490, which is a 3.8 percent growth from 2012 and 96 percent of the 2007 peak. By 2020 employment in manufacturing will have fully recovered jobs lost in the most recent recession and will have grown beyond recovery, according to long-term industry projections released by the Department of Workforce Services.

Figure 1: Manufacturing total employment and forecast

The largest concentration of Utah’s manufacturing employment is in the Miscellaneous Manufacturing subsector (NAICS 339), which includes medical equipment and supplies, jewelry, sporting goods, toys, and office supplies (figure 2). An analysis of this subsector’s location quotient, which measures the level of concentration of an industry’s employment in Utah compared to the US, reveals a high concentration in Utah. This implies an export-oriented industry with more of its products being consumed outside of Utah. Another top subsector in terms of employment concentration is Food Manufacturing (NAICS 311), which is also export-oriented and produces the fourth largest US export in terms of value, according to the US Department of Commerce.

Figure 2: Manufacturing employment by industry sector

Manufacturing experienced some of Utah’s largest job losses during the most recent recession and continued this trend for a few years. But it has been steadily recovering employment and is expected to continue to grow through 2013.