Today marks the first ever Manufacturing Day! So, maybe it’s not as exciting as yesterday’s National Taco Day or Vodka Day. But it’s definitely a more important topic in the California economy.
The Golden State is the biggest manufacturing state in the country. While California is experiencing a slow and steady recovery, Manufacturing Day is not much cause for celebration here.
The California jobs numbers showed that manufacturing jobs dropped in August, the fifth month in a row of year-to-year decreases.
The U.S. census got into the spirit of the day, releasing an infographic showing the importance of the sector and, among other tidbits, that manufacturers are the fourth largest batch of employers nationally.
Putting a slight damper on things, and hot on the heels of Campbell’s announcement of a plant closure in Sac-Town, the national jobs numbers landed today. While 110,000 jobs were added, manufacturing nationally experienced a drop from August to September of 16,000 jobs.
We’ll have to wait until October 19 for the State of California’s latest numbers but the last round showed manufacturing was down 7,000 jobs in August compared to 2011.
Despite stories of a manufacturing revival in Silicon Valley and in niche manufacturing, companies still face the specter of uncertainty in CEQA and other regulations, crumbling infrastructure and access to capital in a tight market. The California Economic Summit is not sitting back and staring at the numbers. Action Team members are working on these issues right now and you can track them on our Progress Tracker page.
Hopefully, the next annual Manufacturing Day will look a bit brighter for California.
Manufacturing jobs numbers from California EDD Labor Market Info. Manufacturing establishments from U.S. Census
County Business Patterns.
