In the past year, industrial employment in Colorado grew 1.2 percent as it gained 2,546 industrial jobs, according to the 2013 Colorado Manufacturers Directory, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers' News Inc.

Based on these figures, Colorado is now home to 6,553 manufacturers with 205,627 workers.

"Colorado continues to see its manufacturing sector improve," says Tom Dubin, president of MNI. "The state's business-friendly environment as well as its access to capital and abundant natural resources has been a draw for a variety of enterprises."

The directory finds that electronics manufacturing continues to rank as Colorado’s largest industrial sector with 24,003 manufacturing jobs, which is nearly the same from last year. Following electronics manufacturing is food products with 23,565 manufacturing jobs, a slight uptick of 1 percent over the last year. Industrial machinery and equipment comes in at third with 19,508 of Colorado's industrial workers, up 1.5 percent over last year.

Of the other sectors that experienced increases are oil and gas extraction at 10.4 percent, chemicals at 5.7 percent, and rubber and plastics at 1.8 percent. Among the sectors that faced losses are printing and publishing at minus 9 percent, paper products at minus 7.2 percent, furniture and fixtures at minus 6.1 percent, lumber and wood at minus 5.8 percent, and textiles and apparel at minus 5.2 percent.

Northeast Colorado employs 132,334 of Colorado’s industrial jobs, a 1.3 percent increase from last year, MNI finds, while Northwest Colorado has 59,528, up 0.5 percent from 2012. Meanwhile, Southwest Colorado accounts for 7,223 industrial jobs, representing no significant change, and Southeast Colorado employs 6,542 jobs, up 6.3 percent for the highest increase of the regions.

Denver ranks as Colorado’s top city for manufacturing employment with 40,069 jobs, down 1.1 percent over the past year, and Colorado Springs comes in second with 17,762 jobs, down 4.3 percent from 2012. Englewood accounts for 13,572 industrial jobs, representing no major change, and Boulder employs 11,306 jobs, up 2.6 percent. Littleton ranks fifth with 9,489 industrial jobs, up 2.1 percent in the last year.

Instant Insights /

Colorado industrial jobs grow 1.2%

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