Above: Two workers install the passenger window of the one millionth Ford Transit produced at Kansas City Assembly Plant. (Image courtesy of Ford Media Center)
Manufacturing employment in Missouri inched up over the past year, according to MNI, compiler and publisher of comprehensive business profiles of the nation’s nearly 400,000 manufacturing companies. According to MNI’s survey of the state’s manufacturers, Missouri added 2,895 jobs or nearly one percent between August 2021 and August 2022.
Missouri’s industrial employment has risen steadily since the pandemic, with current job levels rising 1.7% above the pre-pandemic level of 358,845 recorded in August of 2019.
Missouri is currently home to 6,655 manufacturers employing 365,048 according to MNI data.
The food processing industry remains Missouri’s largest industrial sector based on the size of its workforce, with 54,658 workers. Food processing employment remained steady over the survey year. Second-ranked transportation equipment accounts for 49,021 jobs, up 1.2%, while industrial machinery and equipment account for another 41,680 workers, virtually unchanged in the past year.
Growing Missouri sub-industries include printing machinery, which saw employment rise 48% during the survey year, followed by fertilizers, up 33%; small arms ammunition, up 27%; minerals, up 25%; and motors & generators, up 20%.
These were offset by declines in furniture manufacturing, down 32%; miscellaneous publishing, down 28%; prepared feeds, down 16%; and fabricated wire products, down 10%.
MNI’s city data reveals St. Louis ranks as Missouri’s top city by number of manufacturing jobs, home to 72,490 workers, up a half percent over the year. Second-ranked Kansas City accounts for 47,226 jobs, with no significant change reported over the year. Third-ranked Springfield saw a 3.6% rise in employment among the city’s manufacturers and currently accounts for 19,967 workers.
Other top manufacturing cities in Missouri include St. Joseph (10,056 jobs); Joplin (7,483 jobs); Columbia (6,656 jobs); and O’Fallon (6,312 jobs).
For more facts and statistics on Missouri manufacturers, see our post Top 10 Manufacturing Companies in Missouri.
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