Manufacturing employment in Missouri experienced a slight increase in the past year with 364,988 workers and 8,137 manufacturers, according to the 2013 Missouri Manufacturers Register, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers' News Inc. in Evanston, Ill.
"Missouri continues to see its manufacturing sector improve," says Tom Dubin, president of MNI. "The state's solid infrastructure, educated work force and friendly business environment has been a draw for a variety of enterprises."
Among Missouri's three largest industrial sectors are food products manufacturing with 52,332 industrial jobs, a 1 percent increase; transportation equipment with 42,814 jobs, up 3.2 percent; and industrial machinery and equipment with 42,530 jobs, a 1 percent gain, MNI reports. The directory also finds other industrial sectors that recorded job growth are leather products, up 22 percent; rubber and plastics, a 7.8 percent increase; electronics, representing a 2.3 percent growth; and chemicals, up 1 percent.
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Of the sectors with losses are textiles and apparel at minus 4.6 percent; lumber and wood at minus 2.5 percent; paper products at minus 2.3 percent; stone, clay and glass at minus 2.7 percent; furniture and fixtures at minus 2 percent; and printing and publishing at minus 1.6 percent.
Southeast Missouri is home to the state's most industrial employment with 177,168 jobs, up 1.1 percent, followed by Northwest Missouri with 92,030 jobs, down 0.5 percent, MNI finds. Southwest Missouri comes in third with 70,158 jobs for no change reported, and Northeast Missouri is fourth with 25,632 industrial workers, down 2.1 percent.
According to MNI's city data, St. Louis continues to rank as Missouri's top city by industrial employment with 80,929 jobs, up 0.5 percent. Kansas City is next with 40,418 for no significant change reported, followed by Springfield with 16,678 jobs, down 0.5 percent. St. Joseph comes in at fourth with 9,845 jobs, down 1.1 percent, and Joplin is ranked at fifth with 8,220 jobs, up 1.8 percent.
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