California ranked last among the 50 states in per capita manufacturing investments in 2015, attracting only 1.5 percent of investments made in the US, according to data analyzed and released this week by the California Manufacturers & Technology Association (CMTA).
California attracted investments for 1.07 new sites or expansions per one million people, far below the US average of 9.38 per million. The south and midwest regions enjoyed the highest gains.
A regional view of California reveals that 14 of the state’s 58 counties attracted investments last year. Here is a breakdown of those counties with their investments per 100,000 people:
- 14 Mendocino (investments: 1)
- 94 Yolo (2)
- 55 San Joaquin (4)
- 46 Solano (2)
- 37 Merced (1)
- 21 San Diego (7)
- 19 San Bernardino (4)
- 18 Alameda (3)
- 17 Riverside (4)
- 16 Santa Clara (3)
- 13 San Mateo (1)
- 12 Ventura (1)
- 06 Orange (2)
- 06 Los Angeles (6)
Of the 41 total investments made in California, 18 were new facilities and the other 23 were expansions to existing facilities.
Since the recession ended in 2010, California has failed each year to attract more than two percent of the country’s manufacturing investments. The sector’s employment has also lagged the US, with 3.4 percent growth in California compared to 7.3 percent nationally. If California had kept pace with the nation since the recession, we would have at least 50,000 more high paying manufacturing jobs and more than 1,500 new manufacturing investments.
“These disappointing numbers should be a wake-up call to state leaders. Manufacturing investments support modernization, new product development, job retention and job growth that we need,” said CMTA’s Dorothy Rothrock. “We should find ways to improve the manufacturing business climate and fight for our fair share of investments.”
A state that is successfully fighting for manufacturing is Kentucky with 17 percent growth in manufacturing jobs since the recession ended in 2010. Kentucky enjoyed 39 manufacturing investments per one million people each of the last two years. With only 1.3 percent of the population they attracted seven percent of manufacturing investments during those years. All data has been purchased from the Conway Analytics Report, a data source that informs Site Selection Magazine. All investments counted in the report must include new construction and meet one of the following criteria:
- Additional employees = 20 or more
- Increased square footage = 20,000 or more
- Capital investment = $1 million or more (construction cost, land, and building)
