Local manufacturing businesses and jobs have seen a surge in recent years that must continue for the livelihood of our state and connection to the global economy.
Before the pandemic, manufacturing employed 11.6 million workers in the United States. About 500,000 manufacturing jobs have been added to the economy in the past three years. In 2018 alone, 264,000 manufacturing jobs were created, the most created in a single year in more than two decades.
Locally in Alaska there were more than 12,000 manufacturing jobs. Of these, 33% were employed by small businesses.
While manufacturers have not been immune to the blow many sectors have suffered in 2020 due to the pandemic, we are already seeing the manufacturing sector starting to recover. In fact, 29,000 manufacturing jobs were created in August 2020 alone.
This is both encouraging and necessary for our region as consumers around the world increasingly seek products and services “Made in the USA”. At a macro level, US-made goods exported to other countries have quadrupled over the past few decades. Also, almost six out of every ten US dollars for export comes from manufacturers, making them a crucial component of our role in the international market.
In North America in particular, the passage of the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement earlier this year has and will spur job creation and strengthen manufacturing in Alaska. And as the USMCA establishes a committee on small business issues for the first time in a US trade deal, it will make sure small manufacturers are heard.
As local manufacturers adapt and innovate to operate in a new environment — and in some cases shift production to meet critical medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) needs — public and private entities must work together to enable small Manufacturing companies are successful.
The federal government is relieving small manufacturing companies of bureaucracy by reducing regulations. In recent years, federal agencies have issued multiple deregulation measures for every significant new regulation, saving companies billions in regulatory costs.
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, many federal regulations have been temporarily lifted; and regional advocates from the SBA Office of Advocacy are speaking with companies to explore ways to permanently remove some of these regulations where they have been onerous for small businesses.
Within a week last spring, the SBA rolled out one of the largest stimulus programs the country has ever seen. Funding programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, and traditional SBA loan programs have preserved Alaskan jobs and provided approximately $1.8 billion to small Alaskan businesses in 2020.
Through the collaboration of federal programs, local governments, and industry and trade associations—combined with the ingenuity of small Alaskan businesses—the manufacturing industry will prevail and ultimately thrive.
Jeremy Field is the Regional Administrator for the US Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Pacific Northwest region, serving Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. The SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small businesses with resources to start, grow, expand or recover.
• By Jeremy Field, Small Business Administration
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