MEETS Portfolio Custom Products - Manufacturing Boone & Winnebago Counties

The Continuing Importance of Manufacturing
in Boone & Winnebago Counties  

 Question:    Can MEETS help the Boone-Winnebago Workforce Investment Board understand whether and how manufacturing continues to offer attractive job opportunities?

 Response:    A customized MEETS document titled Manufacturing Impact Profile: Boone-Winnebago, Illinois.

 Answer:         Manufacturing ranks first in total annual payroll and employment, and second in both average monthly earnings of retained new hires and incumbent employees (many of whom are expected to retire soon).  

 Conclusion:  This new information is a starting point to define local ‘advanced’ manufacturing sub-sectors. These sub-sectors reveal pockets of local hiring strength.  Further drill-downs show the age/gender mix of recent hiring and separations in these sub-sectors. This gives education and training providers a basis for targeted recruitment, particularly among populations that are currently underrepresented in manufacturing employment.