Manufacturers' News reports Kentucky is home to 5,758 manufacturers employing 312,381 workers. MNI's regional study shows Kentucky fared better than Tennessee, which saw a loss of 3.3% of its manufacturing jobs. Other states in the region also saw comparable declines with Ohio's industrial jobs down 2.7%, and Indiana's down 2.2%, according to earlier MNI reports.
"As with the entire nation, Kentucky's industrial employment is suffering due to automation, mergers and outsourcing," says Tom Dubin, president of the Evanston, Ill.-based publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912. "Additionally, weakness in the housing market and auto industries has affected related manufacturing sectors, such as wood products, furniture, building products, automakers and their suppliers."
Housing-related manufacturers shutting down in Kentucky include A.O. Smith Corporation, which closed its residential electric motor plant in Scottsville last year.
According to the manufacturers guide, the auto industry is the state's largest industrial sector by employment, accounting for 46,818 of the state's jobs, down 8.6%, following layoffs at Ford, Dana Holdings Corporation and Glasglow-based SKF USA, among others. Suppliers to the auto industry suffered as well with Shelbyville's Johnson Controls Inc. cutting jobs as well as continuing layoffs at Martinrea Industries, also in Shelbyville.
Industrial machinery represents another 36,307 of the state's manufacturing jobs, down just a half percent over the year, while third-ranked food products manufacturing employs 31,673 jobs, up 1.2% over the past 12 months.
Other sectors losing jobs include furniture/fixtures, down 9.2%; chemicals, down 7.2%; textiles/apparel, down 3.6%; rubber and miscellaneous plastics, down 3.3%; stone/clay/glass, down 3%; lumber/wood, down 2.8%; and electronics and metal fabricating, each down 2.5%. Sectors gaining jobs include primary metals manufacturing, up 1.8% and paper/allied products, up a half percent.
According to MNI, Northeast Kentucky accounts for 171,141 industrial jobs, or 55% of the state, with employment down 3.3% over the year. Industrial jobs in Southeast Kentucky are down just a half percent over the survey year, with the region currently home to 53,547 of the state's workers. Southwest Kentucky accounts for 48,817 industrial jobs, down 1.6% over the year, while the Northwest region is home to 38,881, down 3.9%.
MNI's city data shows Louisville manufacturers employ the most Kentucky workers at 56,202 of the state's jobs, down 7.8% over the year. Despite the loss, MNI reports Louisville still ranks first in the Southeast for number of manufacturers and second in the region for number of industrial jobs, just behind Atlanta. Nationally, the city is 21st in the U.S. for number of companies and 18th for related jobs.
Lexington ranks second in the state with 22,253 manufacturing jobs, with employment up 4.4% over the year. Third-ranked Bowling Green is home to 11,403 workers, down 1.1%, while Georgetown saw its industrial employment increase 3.7%, and is currently home to 9,851 workers. Florence accounts for 8,876 of the state's industrial jobs, up a half percent over the year.
