Third Quarter to Bring 175 U.S. Plant Openings and 14,000 New Jobs

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Employment has been a major focus in the United States throughout the recession and during the recovery from the economic slump. The national unemployment rate has been slowly improving, despite this month's hiccup, as private industry has slowly been ramping up hiring. As companies have begun to reinvest in their infrastructure, job creation has begun to improve, but the progress has been slow. Millions are still out of work, and the federal government has been attempting to prod manufacturers to hire more workers each and every month. Some of the past investment has begun to pay off as new plants are opening and hiring each and every quarter. In the coming third quarter, another 175 plants are currently scheduled to open their doors in the U.S., creating an estimated 13,800 new jobs.

Click on image at right for a breakdown by market region of planned plant openings and new jobs in 3Q11.

Several industries have been key in the struggle to create jobs and bring down the unemployment rate. Chief among them is the Industrial Manufacturing Industry, which lost the most jobs during the recession, caused by thousands of plant closures, as companies struggled to cut costs and remain in business as the economy tanked. In the coming quarter, the Industrial Manufacturing Industry will create the most new jobs in the U.S., almost 4,700, in the form of 34 new plants beginning operations. The Food & Beverage Industry is also scheduled to open 34 new plants in the third quarter, adding another 4,300 new jobs to the total for the quarter.

In addition to the two aforementioned jobs giants, the Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry is scheduled to open twenty-six new plants, creating 2,600 new jobs while several other industries will also make significant contributions to the jobs quest total. The Metals & Minerals Industry is expected to open 10 new plants, creating 840 new jobs, while the Chemicals Industry will open 11 plants and create 476 jobs. The Power Industry, Alternative Fuels Industry and Oil & Gas Production Industry will each add more than 200 new jobs in the form of 29, eight and four new plants, respectively.

Where in the U.S. these jobs will created is almost as important as the industries that will create the jobs. The hard-hit Great Lakes region of the U.S. will see the most new jobs within its borders with 37 new plants beginning operations, adding almost 3,000 jobs. The Northeast region of the country will add 17 new plants and 2,800 new jobs while the Southwest region of the country will contribute 26 new plants and 2,100 new jobs. The Mid-Atlantic region will see 14 new plants open their doors during the third quarter, adding more than 1,600 new jobs, and the Southeast will see a robust 23 new plants with 1,500 new jobs. The West Coast will add 21 new plants and 1,300 new jobs.

Capital and maintenance spending is on the rise in the third quarter as well, which will lead to more new plants beginning operations in the future. Industrial Info Resources is currently tracking almost 1,600 capital and maintenance projects worth an estimated $64.4 billion that are scheduled to begin construction during the months of July, August and September this year, which will translate into thousands of new jobs in the months to come. Provided industrial spending continues to grow as it has been, jobs creation should only improve in the future, which will certainly be beneficial to all.

While the unemployment situation has been slow to correct itself nationally, it is improving each and every month. Spending is on the rise, and jobs creation comes along with it. Recovery has been slow, but confidence is high that the situation will improve in the months to come. The country will not recover all of the jobs it lost during the recession, but enough of them will be replaced to, hopefully, lower the unemployment rate to pre-recession levels by 2012.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.