Manufacturing companies looking to expand or locate in the United States all have their eyes on the South and theBirmingham-Hoover metro is on a trajectory to be one of America’s New Industrial Boomtowns.
According to Forbes, the Birmingham-Hoover metro ranks No. 6 out of 10 large cities that are on the rise when it comes to manufacturing jobs.
In 2013, according to the publication, Birmingham had a manufacturing employment base of 38,900, a growth of 3.4 percent. That compared to a 3.8 percent dip the region experienced in 2008.
While large and traditionally manufacturing-rich metros like Los Angeles and Chicago have dipped 18 percent and 11 percent respectively in manufacturing jobs, industry is booming in Southern cities.
Houston took home the No.1 spot with 255,000 manufacturing jobs,
a 5 percent expansion over the past five years.
Nashville-Murfeesboro-Franklin, Tenn. ranked second, up 6 percent since 2008.
In the smaller metro category, Mobile took home third place thanks to its port expansions and Florence-Muscle Shoals was ranked the No. 1 small manufacturing city.
On Wednesday, Alabama’s Mercedes Benz plant in nearby Vance rolled out its first C-Class model sedan, which led to the addition of over 1,000 workers at the plant that now employs over 4,000 in the area.
