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Texas Manufacturing: More Important Than Ever
December 14, 2017
Recently, I completed another of our Good for Texas tours, this one devoted to an essential element of our state's economy — manufacturing. I met with manufacturers across the state to listen and learn, and to share the good news about a recent study our office completed on manufacturing's impact in Texas. I encourage you to watch a short video highlighting the tour.
Recently, I completed another of our Good for Texas tours, this one devoted to an essential element of our state's economy — manufacturing. I met with manufacturers across the state to listen and learn, and to share the good news about a recent study our office completed on manufacturing's impact in Texas. I encourage you to watch a short video highlighting the tour.
It's a common belief that manufacturing is on the decline in our state and our nation. That's just not true; the real story is more complex. Manufacturing employment has declined, as new methods and new technologies make the processes involved ever more efficient. But manufacturing is more important to the Texas economy than ever. Its contributions to the gross state product rose by 98 percent between 1997 and 2016, and totaled $226 billion in 2016 — an amount larger than the entire economy of Portugal.
Today, manufacturing is largely a high-tech affair, and it's crucial to helping Texas ride the continuing wave of innovation. Manufacturing industries invest in and rely on cutting-edge scientific and technological research and development. And as manufacturing becomes more sophisticated, the quality of the jobs it produces increases. In 2016, Texas manufacturers paid average wages of nearly $74,000, much higher than the average statewide wage of $54,000.
Today, manufacturers employ about 858,000 Texans and support another 2.2 million Texas jobs. It's impossible to overstate their importance to our continuing prosperity.
You can explore the manufacturing data and trends that help power the Texas economy at our Good for Texas Tour: Manufacturing Edition website.
As always, I encourage you to keep up with our office via Twitter or Facebook.
Thank you for all you do for Texas, and God bless,
Glenn Hegar