The manufacturing investments have rolled in to Indiana this year: $600 million at Rolls-Royce, $140 million at Subaru and $1.2 billion at General Motors, to name a few.
Almost $2 billion has been invested to overhaul production facilities or expand corporate footprints — a trend that economic experts say puts Indiana at the forefront of states with manufacturing-heavy economies.
“It’s not the norm,†said Barry Bosworth, an economic expert at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. “It sounds like Indiana is doing well.â€
Indiana leads the nation in manufacturing employment — almost 17 percent of the state’s workforce is employed by manufacturers. More than 30 percent of the state’s gross product is manufacturing, again placing Indiana ahead of all other states.
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Indiana’s long tradition of manufacturing, as well as its business climate, makes it one of the most viable states for production, said Chad Moutray, chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers. Indiana has thrived since the Great Recession, he added.
Like other manufacturing states, Indiana was slow to recover but is doing well today, Moutray said.
