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This report card is definitely not going up on the fridge.
A new report from Ball State University gives Florida another “D” grade for its manufacturing sector.
Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research recently assembled its 2020 Manufacturing Scorecard for each state. It compares the states, ranking them based on different areas that impact manufacturing.
The measures include manufacturing and logistics industry health; human capital; cost of worker benefits; diversification of the industries; state-level productivity and innovation; expected fiscal liability; tax climate; and global reach. To explain the selection of metrics, the report says, “the categories in this report were chosen as those most likely to be considered by site selection experts for manufacturing and logistics firms, and by the prevailing research on economic growth.”
On some metrics, Florida received the same grade in 2020 as it did in 2019. It again received an A for tax climate; B for expected fiscal liability; D for global reach; and a C for productivity and innovation.
Florida improved slightly on logistics industry health, earning a C+ this year compared with a C last year. It also improved on human capital, earning a B this year after receiving a C+ last year.
On two marks, Florida’s grade got worse — worker benefit costs (this year a C+ and last year a B) and sector diversification (this year a B- and last year a B).
Florida’s worst grade — and potentially its biggest opportunity for improvement — is global reach. “The level of international trade — in both exports and imports — is a robust measure of the region’s competitiveness in the production, movement and distribution of consumer durable and non-durable goods," the report says. Improving ties with foreign firms, it adds, is an important predictor of the health of the state’s manufacturing and logistic sectors.
While Florida’s manufacturing report card isn’t anything to pop open a bottle of champagne about, individual manufacturers and manufacturers associations have been working to improve business for themselves and the industry.
During the pandemic, dozens of area manufacturers have shifted quickly to make needed products, from face shields to hand sanitizer. Manufacturers associations in the region have increased efforts to connect manufacturers with each other and connect manufacturers to employees.
The Bay Area Manufacturers Association, for instance, which serves Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, sent weekly email newsletters with resources for members and held virtual roundtables to give manufacturers the chance to get together and talk about how COVID-19 was affecting their businesses.
With the many challenges facing Florida’s much-lauded hospitality industry during the pandemic, manufacturing could wind up getting some needed attention. BAMA Executive Director Beth Galic says it’s important for workers in other fields to know about opportunities in the manufacturing industry — especially now. “If you’re not working in a hospitality job," she says, "there are a lot of great jobs in manufacturing.”
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