Operations At The Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. Assembly Plant
New Jersey manufacturing is a $38 billion industry and a leader in electronics, chemicals and foods. In the state and country as a whole, manufacturing productivity has risen by about 3.8 percent each year from 1980 through 2013, 2.6 percent higher than non-manufacturing annual growth.
(Ty Wright/Bloomberg)
Economic researcher Patrick O'Keefe's assertion in a Star-Ledger Q&A ("Christie's neither to blame nor credit," Perspective, July 27) that New Jersey's "manufacturing sector … has all but evaporated" is incontrovertibly wrong.
Popular perception may be that manufacturing is dying. However, the truth is that the innovative, high-tech nature of modern manufacturing has made New Jersey more competitive in the global market.
In fact, New Jersey and the country have experienced a manufacturing rebirth. Manufacturing productivity has risen by about 3.8 percent each year from 1980 through 2013, 2.6 percent higher than non-manufacturing annual growth. Exports have grown 34 percent since 2009.
Today’s manufacturers use the latest technologies to oversee facilities run by computer-automated machines. New technologies such as advanced robotics and digitalized manufacturing allow employees to manage facilities and solve problems by interfacing with computers.
Nearly 10,000 manufacturers are located in the state employing a quarter of a million people — more than 6 percent of the state’s workforce. In fact, one of the biggest problems our manufacturers face is finding skilled workers to hire.
Finally, New Jersey manufacturing is a $38 billion industry and a leader in electronics, chemicals and foods — hardly a sector that “has all but evaporated.”
Melanie Willoughby, acting president, New Jersey Business & Industry Association