Manufacturing still a big factor locally
It employs some 72,000 workers in four counties alone, group’s data show.
Even after years of jobs loss and global trade penetration, manufacturing remains a state and regional economic powerhouse, supporting tens of thousands of local jobs and nearly 2,000 manufacturing businesses in the region.
In just four counties — Montgomery, Butler, Clark and Warren — there are nearly 72,000 workers in manufacturing, according to new data released by the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association.
The job numbers have not returned to the days of massive auto manufacturing in this region, but Angelia Erbaugh, executive director of the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association, said in a 14-county region around Dayton, there are just under 2,500 manufacturing companies employing about 124,000 workers.
“Manufacturing is now in vogue again,” Erbaugh said. “It’s not the industry that was dismissed and was bad and is going away. It seems like there has been a resurgence, a renaissance.”
Parents and educators are again starting to see manufacturing as a viable career choice for students.
“It’s no longer an industry that people just dismiss,” she said.
2016 data released by the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association show:
■ Manufacturing is the largest of 20 economic sectors in the state, contributing 17 percent of Ohio’s overall gross domestic product.
■ Manufacturers in Ohio boast a GDP of $106 billion, ranking it third among the 50 states, behind only Texas and California.
■ The industry employs 700,000 Ohioans total. More than one in 10 Ohioans works in manufacturing, according to the report.
■ The average annual earnings for Ohio workers in manufacturing: $58,800.
■ Montgomery County’s 2016 manufacturing employment was at 28,434 work- ers, exceeding Butler County’s employment of 22,962 and Clark’s 6,993 workers. Warren County had 12,993 workers in 2016.
“No surprise that manufacturing is an important part of the state’s economic base,” Edward “Ned” Hill, an Ohio State University professor of economic development, said in an email. “Just drive up I-75 or towards Marysville.”
COUNTY BY COUNTY MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT
Auglaize 8,241 Butler 22,962 Champaign 3,813 Clarke 6.993 Clinton 3,384 Darke 4,958 Greene 3,791 Hamilton 50,413 Logan 5,326 Miami 10,923 Montgomery 28,434 Preble 3,252 Shelby 12,685 Warren 12,993 SOURCE: 2016 OHIO MANUFACTURERS’ ASSOCIATION REPORT
AK Steel Corp., headquar- tered in Butler County’s West Chester Twp., ranks at 15 on the list of Ohio’s leading manufacturers by number of employees, with 3,460 workers. With 2,400 of those employees in the region, the company is Butler County’s third-largest employer.
Sometimes people forget how much manufacturing Ohio has, said Ryan Augsburger, vice president of the OMA.
“Manufacturing is the big- gest private sector of our economy, by a lot. That’s important to protect and try to grow,” Augsburger said.
Erbaugh called manufac- turing in Southwestern Ohi o “robust” but said recruiting workers remains an issue.
“The concern is always find- ing people with the right skill set,”she said. Finding the right people has been the chief concern for DRMA members for five years running.
Manufacturers continually invest in technology and automation — but not to elim- inate workers, she said.
Said Erbaugh: “They’re constantly learning to do things more efficiently.”
Steve Staub, who heads Staub Manufacturing Solutions in Harrison Twp., is on the OMA board of directors. He said the recent data show manufacturing is often not what people think.
“It’s clean, high-tech, and it pays well,” Staub said. “Mont- gomery County is really a big hub,” he added. “We need to see some proof of how important not only our region but the industry as a whole is.”