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Watch our video interview with Hamilton Caster & Manufacturing Co. President David Lippert online only at www.journal-news.com
Today is the third nationally organized Manufacturing Day. Local companies will open their doors Friday to the public — and more importantly, to students — to educate them about the industry. Their goal is to dispel the long-outdated myth that all you need to get a job in manufacturing is a strong back.
1. More than 106,000 people work in manufacturing in greater Cincinnati, which represents approximately 10 percent of the local economy, according to state government estimates. As of 2013, 19,500 people worked at Butler County manufacturers, according to Economic Modeling Specialists International. More people work in manufacturing than in health care and social assistance occupations, or retail.
2. Butler County's largest manufacturing employer is AK Steel Holdings Corp. AK Steel employs approximately 2,400 full-time workers in Butler County between its West Chester Twp. headquarters and the Middletown Works steel plant, the company's largest of eight steel plants.
3. Ohio's largest manufacturing employer is General Electric Co., which is growing in Butler County. GE has nearly 16,000 workers statewideand more than 2,000 jobs in Butler County, which includes locations in Hamilton and West Chester Twp.
4. Manufacturers are hiring. "One of the challenges that we face, and I know our fellow manufacturers face in the area, are finding skilled people to fill the open jobs we have," said Hamilton Caster & Manufacturing Co. President David Lippert.
5. Jobs in manufacturing pay above average wages, which experts say have a ripple effect throughout the rest of the economy. Butler County manufacturing workers earned on average $75,000 a year in 2013, according to EMSI. All other local occupations had average annual earnings of $55,000.
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