Nashville Job Prospects in Manufacturing are Low

If you're a job seeker wondering what sort of a manufacturing job Nashville has to offer for you, recent statistics show the prospects aren't very good.

A recent report from the University of Tennessee's Center for Business & Economic Research found that the Nashville area has lost about one out of every four manufacturing jobs during the last three years. And while not further losses are expected through 2010, no strong gains are expected either.

"I don’t think we’re ever going to recover to the levels of manufacturing employment that we had before this recession started," Matthew Murray, an economist at the center, told the Nashville Business Journal. "We have not created a net new job in manufacturing in this state or this country dating back to I believe 1997 or 1998. So, what you’ve got with this recession is really a game-changer."

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Nashville area has lost almost 25 percent of its manufacturing jobs since October 2006, with 9,000 jobs eliminate during the past year, bringing the total to 64,800 jobs.

The report found that nearly every sector of the manufacturing industry has been affected by job cuts, especially transportation equipment and durable goods dependent on commercial and residential construction, such as wood products and furniture.

Layoffs have been abundant in the vehicle manufacturing sector as well. As light vehicle sales have decreased by 27.4 percent from last year, forcing many popular automobile companies to layoff large numbers of workers.

As a whole, Tennessee's manufacturing industry has been more fortunate as of late. During September, the industry employed 319,500 workers, which is up from 319,400 workers during August, but an 11 percent decrease from last year.