Vermont Business Magazine Vermont manufacturing employment was little changed over the past year, reports the 2016 Vermont Manufacturers Register. According to MNI’s database of manufacturers, Vermont lost 256 manufacturing jobs from December 2014 to December 2015, a half percent decline. Vermont is now home to 1,343 manufacturers employing 40,711 workers. According to MNI’s database of manufacturers, the state lost 3,750 jobs between December 2007 and December 2010, and has since struggled to recover those losses, with jobs falling a net 1 percent since December 2010.
“High business costs, global competition, and limited capital funding have put Vermont manufacturing growth on hold,” says Tom Dubin, President of the Evanston, IL-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912. “However, the state still holds much appeal for manufacturers, including a highly-educated and innovative workforce, and a flourishing food processing sector.”
According to MNI’s database, losses were led by the state’s electronics industry, which suffered a 2.6% decline. Electronics ranks first in the state for manufacturing employment, employing 4,678.
Additional losses were reported in printing/publishing, down 3.9%; industrial machinery, down 2.5%; stone/clay/glass, down 2.5%; rubber/plastics, down 1.9%; and textiles/apparel, down 1.5%.
Industrial locations announcing closures included Northfield Wood Products; Vermont Machine Tools in Springfield; and Chouinard Inc’s dyeing plant in Northfield.
Andy Willette of Hannaford Supermarkets and Mark Bove of Bove's. VBM file photo.
Losses were offset by gains in the state’s food processing industry, with jobs up 2.1% to 5,918, ranking it first in the state for manufacturing employment. Bright spots for the industry included Italian food maker Bove’s announcement that it will relocate their Ohio pasta sauce plant to Milton.
Other gains were recorded in transportation equipment, up 1.9% and fabricated metals, up 1.3%. Additional boons to Vermont’s manufacturing sector included the establishment of one of the nation’s first vinyl record pressing factory since the 1970s, Burlington Record Plant; and the opening of Blodgett Ovens’ newest food processing equipment plant in Essex.
City data collected by MNI shows Essex Junction remains the state’s top industrial city by number of jobs, accounting for 4,075 workers, down a half percent in 2015. Second-ranked Burlington accounts for 2,977 workers, down 1.3%. Industrial employment in Rutland climbed 2.9% to 2,032 industrial workers, and rose 6.2% in fourth-ranked Brattleboro to 1,937 jobs. Williston ranks fifth with 1,538 jobs, down 3.6% over the year.
EVANSTON, Ill, March 22nd, 2016/Manufacturers' News, Inc./