Brookings Institution Reports Manufacturing Jobs Returning

The U.S. can grow jobs with a clear national manufacturing policy that focuses on regional clusters of specialized companies such as those in machinery, composite materials, autos and aerospace in this region, a new report from the Brookings Institution says.

Ohio had 620,000 manufacturing jobs by the end of 2010 despite losing 39% of manufacturing jobs in a decade, says the report, “Locating American Manufacturing: Trends in the Geography of Production.”

The encouraging report detailed manufacturing growth in the Midwest that’s exceeding growth elsewhere. Nationwide, it said, manufacturing is “largely located in metropolitan areas, displays greater variety than may be recognized, and falls into six broad patterns of industry clustering” –– computers and electronics, transportation equipment, chemicals, machinery, food productions, and low-wage manufacturing industries.

Scott Koorndyk, a development expert, said the report validates strategies here to build on existing clusters, such as aerospace and advanced materials, that restore the region’s historic manufacturing economic base.

“We are in the middle of the nation and in an area that is growing more quickly,” he says. “We are investing in early stage technologies to build clusters in those things that we are good at.”

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