OCTOBER 2, 2017 • HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL | 25
Industry Lookbacks
Manufacturing
If you judge manufacturing in Connecticut over
the last 25 years by employment levels, your likely
takeaway is that things are not going well.
Since 1992, the workforce in the state's
manufacturing sector has steadily declined from
278,000 workers in Jan. 1992 to 156,000 in June
2017, a slide of 44 percent.
But there's more to the story than just the
numbers, according to Bonnie Del Conte,
president and CEO of CONNStep, a Rocky
Hill-based consulting firm that works with
manufacturers.
From her perspective, the declines in employment
in the manufacturing sector reflect not a dying
industry but "changes in productivity and new
technology." In other words, it takes fewer people
to do the same job at a manufacturing plant today
than it did 25 years ago.
And the declining workforce numbers may be
about to change.
Now hiring
For the first time in many years, there's talk
of a real boom in the state's manufacturing
employment, driven by ramping up in the
aerospace and boat building industries.
Electric Boat in the southeastern portion of the
state is expected to hire 1,300 workers in 2017
and thousands more over the coming years
thanks to new sub orders. That's in stark contrast
to conditions at Electric Boat in the early '90s
when the Hartford Business Journal was founded.
At that time, the company was in a downturn,
dragging that corner of the state's economy down
with it.
In addition to major demand for workers at
Electric Boat, aerospace companies in the state,
Technology, outsourcing shift CT's
manufacturing sector
By Christina H. Davis
Special to the Hartford Business Journal
The popularity of Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan engine has been a boon for the East Hartford jet-engine maker and its Connecticut suppliers.
Bonnie Del Conte, President & CEO, CONNStep
SECTION SPONSOR:
