• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

Kentucky Center for Economic Policy

   

  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Events
  • Job Opportunities
  • Donate

Research That Works for Kentucky

  • Topics
    • Budget & Tax
    • Criminal Justice
    • Economic Security
    • Education
    • Health Care
    • Jobs & The Economy
  • Types
    • News
    • Op-Ed
    • Research

   

  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Events
  • Job Opportunities
  • Donate

Copyright © 2021 KyPolicy Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Sitemap

Analysis

Manufacturing is Still Crucial to Kentucky’s Economy, Workers

Anna Baumann | January 22, 2015

Despite steep job losses over the last two decades resulting largely from problematic trade policies and economic recession, manufacturing still plays a key role in Kentucky’s economy. A new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that Kentucky has the eighth highest share of employment in manufacturing among the states at 12.4 percent of total jobs, 3.6 percentage points higher than the national average.

Manufacturing is an even larger share of Kentucky’s economy, making up 18.3 percent of state gross domestic product (GDP), the seventh highest share among the states. The report points out that even that number doesn’t fully convey the importance of manufacturing to our economy because it doesn’t account for the significant demand manufacturing generates for inputs from other sectors, including energy and natural resources, construction of new factories, and services provided by accounting, engineering and software firms. After taking those factors into account, manufacturing is responsible for over one-third of U.S. GDP.

More On Jobs & The Economy: Recovery Went in Reverse in December as Relief Expired, Pandemic Resurged

Of Kentucky’s 230,000 manufacturing jobs, the biggest concentration by congressional district is in western Kentucky. The second district in central/western Kentucky has the most manufacturing employment with 50,100 jobs followed by the first district in far western and southern Kentucky with 43,300 jobs. Those two districts are among the 35 most manufacturing–dependent of the country’s 436 congressional districts. All of Kentucky’s six districts are higher than the national median.

manufacturing in Kentucky

Source: Economic Policy Institute analysis of data from Bureau of Labor Statistics
*rank among all 50 states and the District of Columbia

The biggest manufacturing subsectors in Kentucky are motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts (46,200 jobs), food production (22,900), chemicals (19,500) and machinery (16,800). Fabricated metal products; primary metal manufacturing; plastics and rubber products; and electrical equipment, appliances and components also have at least 10,000 jobs each. See the table at the end of this piece for more information on manufacturing employment in Kentucky by subsector and how they are distributed across Kentucky’s congressional districts.

The report notes that despite growing challenges, manufacturing jobs typically provide better wages to workers without a college degree than other opportunities. In Kentucky, the average hourly wage for manufacturing workers without a college degree is $17.07—$2.57 or 17.7 percent higher than for nonmanufacturing jobs. Nationally, the manufacturing wage premium is $1.78.

Far from being a dinosaur, manufacturing is central to a dynamic and innovative economy. In fact, it was responsible for 69 percent of all U. S. research and development spending in 2012. The authors note that “a vital manufacturing sector is also essential to meeting national challenges, including rebuilding infrastructure, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and lowering the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels.”

Between 2000 and 2014, Kentucky lost nearly 78,000 manufacturing jobs with an especially steep drop between 2007 and 2010 during the Great Recession. Another EPI study estimates that since 2001, Kentucky has lost 41,100 manufacturing jobs as a result of the growing U.S.—China trade deficit, caused largely by China’s use of currency manipulation. Along with other legal and illegal policies that include suppressing labor standards, China is able to keep its exports cheap compared to other countries’ goods. Ending currency manipulation in China and other countries would significantly help restore demand for goods manufactured in the U.S.

manufacturing by subsector

Source: Economic Policy Institute Analysis of data from the American Community Survey and Bureau of Labor Statistics

 

FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail

Primary Sidebar

Get KyPolicy news updates in your inbox

Sign Up

Sidebar

Perspectives

Kentucky Must Remove the Roadblocks to Unemployment Insurance — Our Most Important Economic Stabilizer

Many Kentuckians Face Hunger and Hardship This Thanksgiving. They Need Relief.

Kentucky Lives and Livelihoods Are on the Line with Supreme Court Challenge to ACA

Letter to Governor Beshear: Priorities for Use of Remaining Coronavirus Relief Fund Monies

Congress Can’t Go Home Without Passing a Strong Aid Package

Other Jobs & The Economy Items

weakening recovery

Analysis

Recovery Went in Reverse in December as Relief Expired, Pandemic Resurged

Analysis

Tracking the Economic Fallout of COVID-19 in Kentucky

job growth has slowed

Analysis

Kentucky’s Too-Slow Economic Recovery Faces New Threats

Ky. Policy

Footer

Research that works for Kentucky

433 Chestnut Street, Berea, KY 40403

Phone: 859-756-4605

General information and inquiries: info@kypolicy.org

   

Help us make the facts free and accessible to everyone. That’s how Kentucky will thrive.

Donate

  • Topics
    • Budget & Tax
    • Criminal Justice
    • Economic Security
    • Education
    • Health Care
    • Jobs & The Economy
  • Work
    • News
    • Op-Ed
    • Research
  • About Us
  • Press Room
  • Contact

Get KyPolicy news updates in your inbox

Sign Up

Copyright © 2021 KyPolicy Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Sitemap

made by P&P
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you consent to the use of cookies.OkPrivacy policy