Now home to 2,289 manufacturing jobs, Oregon gained a 1 percent increase in industrial employment, according to the 2013 Oregon Manufacturers Directory, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers' News Inc. in Evanston, Ill.
After calculating this gain, Oregon now has 5,757 manufacturers with 217,166 workers, MNI finds.
"Oregon continues to see its manufacturing sector improve," says Tom Dubin, president of MNI. "Although the state's industrial sector still suffers from the ailing housing industry, it maintains a winning mix of abundant natural resources and lower business costs than its neighbors."
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Electronics manufacturing continues to reign as Oregon's largest industrial sector by employment with 31,531 jobs, a 4.8 percent increase, followed by food products manufacturing employing 29,110 workers for no significant change, MNI reports. Lumber and wood comes in third with 28,654 workers, a drop of 4.6 percent.
Gains by industrial sectors are in primary metals at 11.9 percent, furniture and fixtures at 9.4 percent, transportation equipment at 6.9 percent, rubber and plastics at 6.2 percent, and chemicals at 1 percent, MNI finds. Of the industrials sectors with losses are paper products at minus 4.2 percent; textiles and apparel at minus 3.1 percent; printing and publishing at minus 2.6 percent; and stone, clay and glass at minus 1.7 percent.
Northwest Oregon makes up Oregon's highest manufacturing employment numbers with 161,551 jobs, a gain of 1.7 percent, while Southwest Oregon comes in second with 41,449 jobs, a decline of 1.9 percent, MNI finds. Following is Southeast Oregon with 7,993 industrial workers for no significant change, and fourth-ranked Northeast Oregon accounts for 6,173 jobs, an uptick of 4.8 percent.
Oregon's city with the most manufacturing employment is Portland with 48,252 jobs, a 1 percent increase, MNI finds. Hillsboro is second with 24,840 jobs, marking 6.9 percent growth, and Beaverton ranks in the No. 3 spot with 15,801 manufacturing jobs, nearly unchanged from last year. Eugene follows with 11,661 jobs, a decrease of 1.3 percent, and Salem is fifth with 7,342 manufacturing jobs, a gain of 2.6 percent.
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