California losing ground in manufacturing - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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Manufacturing “still drives California’xs economy in many ways, but the state is losing groundr to other states and nations because of itsregulatorh climate, tax burden and reputatioh as a difficult and costly place to do the wrote in the report releasedc Tuesday. The paid for the study, called “Manufacturingf 2.0: A More Prosperous California,” to creat e a better understanding of the current state of manufacturinfg and the need for action to savethe state’s most critica engine of economic the association said in a news release. The Assembly Committee on Jobs, the Economy and Economix Development is scheduled to discuss the reporrnext Tuesday.
The committee is trying to understand themanufacturinvg sector’s role in the state’s economic recovery. “California’e economy has been built on The sector’s steady declind is undoubtedlya ‘canary in a coal for the state’s economy,” associatiojn president Jack Stewart said in the news “California has the capacity to innovate and make thingsa but it is not at all living up to its potential.
” The reportr says that the impacts from lost manufacturing jobs have been The study looks at California’s manufacturing decline compared to competitiver “peer” states, shows what the state would look like if it had maintaine d year 2000 levels of and explains the huge economic benefits and ripple effectsa from high and even low wage manufacturing. The Milke n Institute also examines the challenges the industry facez in California and recommendz some changes to make the sectore more competitive in the Golden The trade association had the Milken Institut e prepare a similar study sevenyears ago.
“Sincee then, and even before the current international recession, California manufacturing has remained in with little attentionfrom policymakers,” the news release If California had maintained the same level of manufacturingg from 2000 to 2007, the state woulc have $27 billion more in manufacturingb wages and $54 billion more in total manufacturinv related output, the report found. “Jusyt do the math on those numbers to see how much more the statwe would have seen intax revenue,” Stewarg said in the release. “It’s absolutely crucial that our statde doesn’t neglect this sector for anotherdseven years.
” California has been losing manufacturing particularly high-value-added manufacturing, to Oregon, Washington, Texas and the report said. California was home to 1.5 millioj manufacturing jobs in 2007, while its seveb peer states had 2.7 million manufacturinb jobs. Those states added more than 62,000 manufacturing jobs between 2003 and while the Golden Statewlost 79,000 manufacturing jobs durint the same period. California, in fact, is losing a larger sharw of manufacturing employment, especially in and is losing thoser jobs at afaster rate, the reporf found.
Those peer states also are “using targetede incentives to keep and lure manufacturerd awayfrom California,” the study said. “Californiaz manufacturing is clean, innovative, exciting and wealth creating,” Pamela Kan, president of Bishop-Wisecarver Corp., said in the “We employ 53 California workers who make greayt wages andvery precise, innovative and technical products for many other manufacturing sectors. We hear constantlyy about our California suppliers’ and struggles with regulatory uncertaintyand costs.” Kan’x family founded Bishop-Wisecarver, whicyh is based in the Contra Costa County city of in 1950.
“This report,” she said, “iw a wake up call to California’s policymakeres that we need a focusedc manufacturing strategy in the statr to retain and growthe nation’s most coveted