Manufacturing Sectors Picks Up in Illinois

Within the past few years, the manufacturing sectors seemed to continuously decline in the state of Illinois, leaving many people unemployed. However, within the span of a year, the manufacturing sector managed to rise by half percent. This information was provided by the 2012 Illinois Manufacturers Directory, which has been published each and every year since 1912, providing the people of Illinois with statistical information on the manufacturing sector and its growth and progress throughout the years. The news came as quite a shock for some residents, especially since progress like that, for this particular sector, has not been made within the state for the past ten years.

The state of Illinois is now currently employing about 817,063 workers within the manufacturing industry. These numbers have definitely been positive. While it is believed that the manufacturing sector will never be as successful as it once was, decades ago, it is still nice to see that progress is being made. It is especially nice for those who work in this sector, as more employment opportunities have been made available.

Some of the bonuses for the state include Chrysler’s big announcement, in which it released information about its plans to hire nearly 2,000 new workers for the assembly facility, located in Belvidere. Ford has also made plans to expand the plants in and around Chicago, while a new Boeing plant is being constructed in Mascoutah. Overall, there has been a lot of expansion which has also led to a lot of opportunities, especially for those who have wanted to work within the manufacturing sector.

Reports were made, showing that the industrial machinery and equipment sector is, by far, the largest sector in the state of Illinois, because it currently employs 129,114 individuals, which his nearly half percent. In the meantime, fabricated metals also made up a lot of the available jobs, with a little over 94,000 jobs available in that particular sector.

In the state, there were quite a few industrial sectors that managed to add on some new jobs, which included transportation equipment, electronics, rubber and plastics, and instrument-related products. There were a few losses as well, which included printing and publishing, furniture and fixtures, paper products, and chemicals.

There were a few of the manufacturing locations that ended up closing down. Some of these locations included the Chicago Sun-Times printing plant, which is located on the southern side of Chicago, Protein Solutions’ meatpacking plant, which is located in Chicago, and Lifetime Doors Incorporated, which is located in Watseka. Even with some of these locations closing  up shop, the state of Illinois still managed to do exceptionally well when it came down to the growth of the manufacturing sector within the past twelve months.