Florida Scores Poor-to-Ho-Hum Again in Manufacturing and Logistics

For the second consecutive year, Florida received a D for manufacturing and C for logistics, according to a just-released report from Ball State University.
 

The 2016 Manufacturing and Logistics Report, prepared by Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) for Conexus Indiana, the state's advanced manufacturing initiative, shows how each state ranks among its peers in several areas of the economy that underlie the success of manufacturing and logistics.
 
Florida received the following grades:

Manufacturing: D
Logistics: C
Human Capital: C
Worker Benefit Costs: C
Tax Climate: A
Expected Liability Gap: A
Global Reach: D
Sector Diversification: B
Productivity and Innovation: C-
 
Michael J. Hicks, Ph.D., CBER's director, also provides an analysis of why the American advanced manufacturing sector is being transformed as the nation shifts toward more diversified industries and needs a better educated workforce in the companion study Advanced Manufacturing in the United States.
 
Advanced manufacturing is defined by the Brookings Institution as an industry sector with high levels of STEM-related occupations and research and development investment. Using Brookings Institution’s definition, CBER looked at each state’s advanced manufacturing employment as a share of total manufacturing employment in 2013.
 
Data show that nationally STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and white-collar jobs are growing in the advanced manufacturing sector, while blue-collar occupations have declined.
 
“These data underscore the importance of talent development efforts with a focus on educational attainment,” Hicks says. “In the long run, a well-educated and ready workforce matters more than any other single factor in the health of advanced manufacturing firms.”
 
Both reports are available here.