Manufacturers Tend to Cluster in Metro Areas Like Seattle, Says Brookings Study

The Brookings Institute has release a report that identifies Seattle area as one of the nation’s leading manufacturing regions with 167,000 manufacturing-related jobs, accounting for about 9.7 percent of all the region’s jobs in 2010. Of those manufacturing jobs, 63 percent are considered high tech. Interestingly, the study finds that 79.5 percent of all manufacturing jobs and 95 percent of “very high tech manufacturing” jobs are based in metro areas where companies can find the specialized work force they need for such operations. “Very high-tech” jobs account for about 8.5 percent of the nation’s 11.5 million jobs, while 16.1 percent are high-tech and 18.6 percent are moderately high-tech. Average manufacturing earnings are highest in San Jose, at about $145,000 a year, nearly triple the average wage nationwide. High wage regions, surprisingly, suffered the least severe job losses. The average metropolitan manufacturing plant had 57.4 employees.