Samsung Austin’s rise on display

Texas comptroller picks growing plant for start of manufacturing tour.

As Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar begins touring manufacturing plants around the state this month to highlight the changing industry, his first stop on Monday brought him, as well as Texas state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, to Samsung Austin Semiconductor’s 160-acre campus in North Austin, where a significant amount of foreign investment into computer and electronic manufacturing has taken place.

Hegar’s tour comes during a modest resurgence of manufacturing in Austin and across the state, with factories expanding payrolls, increasing production and reporting more optimistic outlooks on economic conditions. It also comes as the computer and electronic product manufacturing subsector has become the state’s fastest growing in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

“The investment by Samsung not only in the Austin area but in Texas — you can see it,” Hegar said. “That commitment that Samsung provides is part of the reason I wanted to start (my tour) here.”

In the 12 months that ended in June, Texas factories boosted payrolls by 3.2 percent, adding 27,000 jobs, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. After three years of flat or shrinking payrolls, Austin manufacturers added jobs at a similar pace over the June-to-June period. Local factory payrolls rose 3.7 percent, adding 2,100 jobs.

The recent rebound in the state’s manufacturing sector is welcome after the recession and then a sharp downtown in oil and gas prices hurt many manufacturers. Add to that a sputtering global economy and a strong U.S. dollar, which made American products more expensive overseas, and even factories that