New Jersey received a D+ for the health of its manufacturing industry in 2020, the same grade as 2019, according to a national scorecard released earlier this month.
The 2020 Manufacturing Scorecard also gave the state an A for Productivity and Innovation; a C+ for Logistics Industry Health; a C in both the Global Reach and Human Capital categories; and an F for Worker Benefit Costs, Tax Climate, Expected Fiscal Liability, and Sector Diversification. The scorecard is produced by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University in Indiana.
“The categories in this report were chosen as those most likely to be considered by site selection experts for manufacturing and logistics firms, and by the prevailing research on economic growth,” the report states.
Of the seven states in New Jersey’s region, New York received an F for its Manufacturing Industry Health, while Maryland and Delaware both received a D and Rhode Island a D+. Scoring slightly better were: Massachusetts (C-), Pennsylvania (C), and Connecticut (C+).
Each category was based on its own criteria. The Manufacturing Health section, for instance, looked at the share of total income earned by manufacturing employees in each state, the wage premium paid to manufacturing workers relative to the other states’ employees, and the share of manufacturing employment per capita. The report did not explain what specific data points led to each state’s score.
“The production of goods holds particular interest in the US economy,” the report states. “Manufacturing firms are not necessarily reliant on local demand for goods and are therefore footloose. Their location depends more on local factors…”
