Florida Now Top 10 in the Nation for Manufacturing Jobs, Surpassing New York
Manufacturing is a big deal in Florida. Most recent job numbers show that Florida is now #10 in the nation for manufacturing employment. In fact, Florida manufacturers employed 426,000 Floridians in August 2023, advancing Florida ahead of New York for employment in this sector.
Florida’s manufacturing industry plays a vital role in growing and diversifying Florida’s economy, and this month’s figures are a move in the right direction towards achieving our Florida 2030 Blueprint goal of being a top 5 state for manufacturing jobs. As Florida looks to surpass #9 North Carolina and ultimately have more manufacturing jobs than #5 Pennsylvania, we want to thank our Florida 2030 Blueprint Goal Leader FloridaMakes and FloridaCommerce for their work in helping to grow this vital sector. While we would ultimately like to see Florida create a Chief Manufacturing Officer position, the positive momentum for this sector is another important sign the Florida continues to diversify its economy.
As we look to the future of Florida’s manufacturing industry, manufacturers employ 426,000 Floridians, or 4.4% of the workforce.
GDP, or gross domestic product, is a measure of the size of an economy. Florida’s GDP is approaching $1.5 trillion, currently sitting at $1.47 trillion. The percentage of GDP each industry contributes to the overall economy can be considered the value added by that industry, and currently, manufacturing is contributing 5% of Florida’s GDP.
While manufacturing is a relatively low share of employment and GDP, the industry boasts a higher GDP per capita than the all-industry average in Florida. GDP per capita is a figure that gives us insight into the productivity of an industry – it shows us how much is being contributed to the economy on average by each job in the sector.
As there still remains room for the manufacturing industry’s share of employment and value added to the economy to grow, the productivity in the sector shines a light on why this industry is so essential. A high level of productivity in the industry presents an opportunity for manufacturing job growth to impact Florida’s economy in a significant way – highlighting the importance of growing Florida to a top 5 state for manufacturing jobs by 2030.
The “Manufacturing Jobs” metric has been updated on TheFloridaScorecard.org, reflecting this state-level data. Visit The Florida Scorecard today to see how Florida is moving towards the top 5 manufacturing jobs goal, and be sure to visit often to stay updated on hundreds of other metrics.
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