Key to CT Economy, Manufacturing Growth Strongest in Eastern CT

Eastern Connecticut manufacturing jobs grew four times as fast as the rest of the state between 2015 and 2019, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association is reporting.  Two-thirds of all statewide manufacturing job growth during that period took place in the eastern region's 41 communities, ranging from Lyme to Stonington in the south to Union and Thompson in the north.

Connecticut added 4,000 manufacturing jobs over those four years, led by growth in the aerospace and defense sectors with increasing demand for skilled workers, due in part to a wave of retirements that are impacting the industry.

Manufacturing jobs grew 11.3% from January 2015 to January 2019 in the eastern part of the state, compared with 2.6% statewide and 4.4% across the United States.  Officials cite programs coordinated by the Eastern Workforce Investment Board and the Eastern Advanced Manufacturing Alliance with public and private sector partners as factors supporting that growth.  They indicate that the program has placed over 1,500 workers—80% of whom had no prior manufacturing experience—saving millions of dollars in training costs, CBIA reported.

Many of those workers took positions with General Dynamics Electric Boat or at one of the Groton-based submarine manufacturer's regional supply chain companies. Electric Boat, which has U.S. Navy orders for 42 Virginia class and 12 new Columbia class submarines to be delivered over the next two decades, has hired thousands of new employees in recent years.

Overall, manufacturers in Connecticut account for 10.74% of the total output in the state, employing 9.49% of the workforce, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Total output from manufacturing was $28.01 billion in 2017. In addition, there were an average of 160.32 thousand manufacturing employees in Connecticut in 2018

The leading manufacturing sectors in the state for job growth in 2018 were Aerospace Products and Parts Manufacturing, Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing, General-Purpose Machinery Manufacturing, and Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical and Control Instruments Manufacturing.

The Hartford Courant reported last month that over the last 20 years, the percentage of older workers has surged as the baby boom generation has aged, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with 27% of Connecticut’s workforce now over 54. For manufacturing, 35% of the workforce is over 54. The median age in Connecticut is nearly 41, which ranks the state as one of the oldest.

Manufacturing is a key in Connecticut’s economy, with $16.08 billion in manufactured goods exports in 2018. A total of $4.11 billion in exports last year was with U.S. free trade agreement (FTA) partners. This helped create jobs in Connecticut, with 27.40% of state employment attributable to exports in 2011, NAM reported. Small businesses comprised 89.00% percent of all exporters in Connecticut.  The top five export markets for manufactured goods in 2018 were France, Germany, Canada, United Kingdom and Mexico, according to the International Trade Association and U.S. Census Bureau.