Columbia Regional Business Report
www.columbiabusinessreport.com
Staff Report 

The Columbia metro area was ranked 21st nationally in the growth of manufacturing jobs from 2010 through 2011, according to a report by the Brookings Institution.

From the first quarter of 2010 through the fourth quarter of 2011, manufacturing jobs in the Columbia area increased 5.9% compared to the national average of 2.7%, the report said. Overall, there were 26,780 manufacturing jobs in the Midlands, the report said.

The Midlands area also outpaced the national average for the number of employees per plant. Local plants employed an average of about 100.8 people per plant compared with the national average of 39.9, according to 2009 figures. The Midlands was ranked No. 3 nationally in the average number of employees per plant.

In a breakdown of industry sectors, the report found that 14.8% of the area’s manufacturing jobs were in food processing, 10.5% in chemicals production and 9.9% in fabricated metals.

The highest average salary for jobs, $67,046, was in the “moderately high-tech” manufacturing category, the report said. The Midlands ranked No. 45 nationally for pay in that category.

Midlands jobs in the “very high-tech” category averaged $57,646 or 78th nationally, Brookings said. All manufacturing jobs averaged $50,954, ranking the area 77th nationally.

About 8.5% of all manufacturing jobs in the Midlands are in the “very high-tech” category, well below the national average of 16.1%. Meanwhile, 20.4% of jobs are in the “moderately high-tech” category, slightly higher than the national average of 18.6%.

Brookings defined “very high-tech” as industries that employ five times more scientists and engineers than their economy-wide percentage. Very high-tech industries include aerospace, pharmaceutical and electronic manufacturers.

The organization defined “moderately high-tech” as industries that employ more than twice as many but less than five times more scientists and engineers than their economy-wide percentage. Moderately high-tech industries include petroleum, coal, chemical, machinery, electrical equipment and transportation equipment manufacturers, among others.

The report also noted that manufacturing made up 7.4% of all jobs in the Midlands, lower than the national average of 8.5% for metro areas.

Brookings ranked the top 100 metro areas in manufacturing categories, using data from Moody’s Analytics.