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2015 | Doing Business in Connecticut 63 Manufacturing Building a Future Manufacturing buoyed by major aerospace, defense contracts By Paul Marks M ajor contracts for production of Pratt & Whitney jet engines and submarines built at General Dynamics Electric Boat have manufacturers in Connecticut revved up over growth prospects and looking to hire skilled workers. It's welcome news for a state economy that is seeing steady job creation, but has lagged behind the nation in climbing out of the Great Recession. e ripple effect from Pratt's ramp-up in production of its Geared Turbofan commercial engines and the F135 engine for the military's Joint Strike Fighter boosts prospects for manufacturers supplying parts and materials, said Pete Gioia, economist with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. About $10 billion will flow down the supply chain to about 700 companies providing roughly 80 percent of the value for those engines, he said. Pratt has revamped its engine assembly line in Middletown and expects to build as many engines over the next three years as it has in the past quarter century. Last year, in a landmark agreement, the state agreed to offer United Technologies Corp., Pratt's corporate parent, up to $400 million in tax breaks over 14 years in return for job-creating expansion in Connecticut. rough 2018, UTC will invest up to $500 million to upgrade and expand its aerospace facilities in the state. Some 400 subcontractors will find similar opportunity in the Na- vy's $17.6 billion contract for work to begin on two new Virginia-class warships annually for the next five years at Electric Boat's shipyard in Groton, Gioia said. Already, the ship builder has announced plans to hire an additional 600 employees. "e potential future of manufacturing in Connecticut is as bright as I've seen in 25 years," said Gioia. "Our membership surveys show that by 2016 they're expecting to have 9,000 additional skilled manufacturing jobs. So a big issue will be: 'Can we provide the skilled employees these companies need?' " Historically, manufacturing has been a mainstay of the Connecti- cut economy, but over the past half century, its story has been one of relentless decline — both in the number of companies and in overall employment. In 1969, the heyday of brass, bearings and M-16 rifles for the Vietnam War, 477,000 people worked in Connecticut manu- facturing. Within three decades, that was cut in half. Since the turn of the century, the slide has continued, with almost 1,200 manufacturers closing or moving out of Connecticut since 2000, dropping the total to 4,739 companies in 2014, with 165,200 employees. Continued on page 64 > PHOTO/PRATT & WHITNEY