Industrial Manufacturing Industry to Create 16,000 New U.S. Jobs in 1Q09

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The news headlines have been very disconcerting over the past couple of months, especially among companies in the Industrial Manufacturing Industry in the United States. The automotive sector is spiraling into bankruptcy despite whatever bailout money the government throws at it. The plastics and rubber sector will probably not be too far behind because of its close association with the automotive sector, and the heavy manufacturing sector is suffering more and more on a monthly basis as the economy continues to decline. The semiconductor and computers sector is at the bottom of its typical cyclical spending routine. Yet despite all of the bad news within the industry, new jobs are still being created each and every month in the form of plants completing construction and opening their doors to new employees.

Click on the image at right to see a breakdown of new jobs and plant openings in 2009 in the Industrial Manufacturing Industry.

During the coming first quarter of 2009, 52 new Industrial Manufacturing plants will become operational in the U.S., bringing more than 16,000 new jobs to the table. The plants that will begin operation in January, February or March of next year cover a wide variety of sectors within the industry. Intermodal hubs, pump-manufacturing plants, distribution centers, plastic-bag manufacturing plants, rail stations and even automotive-stamping plants are part of the mix of plants planning to open during the quarter. The real question will be if these plants can keep their doors open for a lengthy period of time given the economic uncertainty facing the nation and its manufacturing entities.

These new plants are not focused in any one area of the country. They are spread all over the place, providing much needed jobs to many different regions. The overall leader in terms of total new plants beginning operations will be the Southeast region of the country with 14 plants. This represents over 6,700 new jobs within the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Running a close second is the Great Lakes region of the country with 11 new plants and almost 3,000 new jobs. After these two regions, there is a drop in new plant totals for the quarter. The Southwest region will become home to seven new plants followed by the Northeast region with six and the West Coast region with five.

A closer look at which states will reap the benefits of these new jobs shows that North Carolina will be the big beneficiary during the coming quarter with over 3,300 jobs, followed closely by Georgia with 3,100 new jobs. After these two states, the drop-off is significant as we round out the top five states with Alabama with 1,900 new jobs, Michigan with 1,600 new jobs and Louisiana with 800 new jobs.

While the new jobs numbers are encouraging for the first quarter of 2009, these types of numbers will not be able to be sustained as the new year progresses. By the second quarter, the country will probably begin to see a decline in new job creation depending on how the new administration takes on the unemployment issue. With companies unable to find financing for projects, the number of new plants will slowly diminish along with the new jobs associated with new operations. The coming year is going to be a long one for both employers and employees, but until the country can work its way out of the recession and Congress can solve the problems on Wall Street, we are all going to have to take the long view of future economic growth, especially within the Industrial Manufacturing industry.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.