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Report Says Tennessee Manufacturing Growth Limited By Education

http://conexus.cberdata.org/

A new report finds that Tennessee’s manufacturing sector is strong, but its growth is limited by worker education.

The 2013 Manufacturing & Logistics National Report was compiled by Conexus Indiana and released by the Ball State Center for Business and Economic Research. The report analyzes the manufacturing and logistics sectors in each state, measuring different economic factors with an impact on those sectors, including industry health, human capital, cost of worker benefits, industry diversification, state-level productivity and innovation, expected fiscal liability, tax climate and global reach.

According to the report, manufacturing makes up almost 9% of Tennessee’s economy, with earnings from manufacturing jobs of more than $20.7 million.

The report gave Tennessee a B for manufacturing and a B+ for logistics. B is the state average on that report since 2009. But Tennessee has also received D’s on “human capital” since 2009, with D- grades for the last two years. The state did see improvements this year in tax climate and fiscal liability. 

Ball State’s CBER director and economics professor Michael Hicks says Tennessee’s only constraint to manufacturing is the relatively low level of adult educational achievement. Hicks said educational achievement also hinders manufacturing expansion in Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky. 

Chrissy served as WUOT's News Director and host of monthly public affairs talk show Dialogue from late 2021 to early 2023. Her first job with the station was as weekend student announcer while earning her bachelor's in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee. She had previously been the station's local host for NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered news programs; occasionally filled in as host for WUOT's Morning and Afternoon Concerts; and won multiple awards for her interviews, feature stories, and Dialogue.