Home to the state's second-largest metro, the Northeast Region has a strong industrial sector, tied largely to the area's abundant natural resources.
Most of the manufacturing base centers on mining and forest products industries. More than half of the sector's employment is in paper and machinery manufacturing.
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10/14/2016 12:04:56 PM
Erik White
While manufacturing has a lower concentration in the Northeast regional than the state average, what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality. As noted, the average annual wage for manufacturing jobs in the region was 36 percent higher – over $15,000 more per year in 2015 – than the average annual wage across all industries.
Despite overall decreases in manufacturing employment in the region, transportation equipment manufacturing has been the fastest growing sub-sector in Northeast Minnesota in the last five years, and recent business development ensures its importance to the region.
In 2015, there were 625 jobs at 11 different businesses classified as transportation equipment manufacturers in Northeast Minnesota. That made up 7.3 percent of all manufacturing jobs in the Arrowhead region, with only paper, wood, machinery, and fabricated metal products employing a bigger share of manufacturing jobs.
Since 2011, the transportation equipment manufacturing subsector has gained 146 jobs, a 30.5 percent increase. That is a significant amount when you consider all of manufacturing sectors in the region combined to lose 362 jobs in the last five years.
An important manufacturer in this growing subsector is Cirrus Aircraft in Duluth, which produces and sells personal aircraft. Earlier this year, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded Cirrus Aircraft a $4 million loan from the Minnesota Investment Fund to “help Cirrus bring its one-of-a-kind single-engine jet to market, while creating 150 good new jobs in Duluth,” according to Lt. Governor Tina Smith.
The loan can be forgiven if the company meets its hiring and investment commitments in the new $12.7 million facility, while the new jobs will pay up $14 an hour plus benefits. Orders for the new jet are soaring, and the manufacturer expects to begin delivery of its single engine jet soon as it completes certification. This project fuels economic vitality in the region and provides an example of successful partnership between manufacturers and DEED in adding and retaining high-quality jobs in Northeast Minnesota.
Contact Erik White at 218-302-8413.
