Jones Lang LaSalle


Garden State Gains Manufacturing Plants but Still Sees Related Job Losses

The state gained 588 manufacturing plants but still lost more than 4,866 manufacturing jobs last year, according to the 2006 New Jersey Manufacturers Register, an annual industrial guide published by Manufacturers' News in Evanston, IL.

In 2005 the Garden State hosted 11,067 manufacturing companies that generated 479,926 jobs, compared with 10,479 plants and 484,792 jobs reported a year earlier, according to the private survey. Newark and Paterson gained a total of 26 manufacturing plants in 2005, while Fairfield, Clifton, and Trenton gained 27. Many of the 588 new plants are in the medical, food, and printing and publishing industries, and most have fewer than 15 workers.

Some 7,474 plants, or 67% of the total, are located in the nine-county northeast region of the state. The area also gained 375 plants in 2005, or 64% of total plant gains. The top three manufacturing segments in the state are printing and publishing, which added 154 plants; industrial machinery and equipment, which gained 49 facilities; and metal fabricating, which grew by 38 factories. The three segments account for a total of 4,389 plants, or 40% of New Jersey manufacturers. - Martin C. Daks