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The Virginia Manufacturer - Focusing on Manufacturing Issues of Today and Tomorrow

Virginia Manufacturer's Association
In This Issue


Quick Links

Resources for Members
 
Job postings deal for
 VMA members!
 
As you begin hiring for 2010, post your job openings on the  www.advancedtechnologyjobs.com job board to gain access to many qualified candidates. 
 
VMA member companies receive a 25% discount on postings by using the following promotional code when checking out: HIRE2010. 
 
 
Business Services Directory
 
Whether your company needs financial or legal advice, security, staffing, office equipment, laboratory analysis, environmental or engineering consultations or much more, you will find a helpful listing in our directory.

Click here to access the new Business Services Directory or find the link on the VMA website homepage.
 
 

VOLUME 3.0 | SPECIAL EDITION | FEB 2010

 

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY                 

 
MANUFACTURING EMPLOYMENT
 
The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) just published its Manufacturing Report detailing the change in employment and wages from 1990 - 2009 and 2004 to 2009. 
 
Manufacturing employment has reached a crisis in the Commonwealth with a drop of 40.8% since 1990 and 19.8% drop since 2004. 
 
Manufacturing employment is now 239,140.  The loss in employment and manufacturing activity has cost the Commonwealth an estimated $.5 billion in state tax revenue alone.
 
 
 
TAXATION POLL
 
Click Here**VMA Taxation Poll**Click Here
 
In recent weeks, the legislature has begun debating how to close its $4.2 billion budget deficit.  One consideration is to increase taxes on Virginia's manufacturing sector through fee increases and disallowing the IRC Section 199 Domestic Production Deduction (DPD).  The DPD alone is a $60 million tax increase.
 
Some of the General Assembly leadership have suggested that Virginia's state and local tax policies have no bearing on a company's decision to expand or relocate in the Commonwealth.  The attached poll is intended to "take the pulse" of Virginia's industrial businesses in relation to the ranking that tax policy plays in business decisions.
 
The poll will close on February 17, 2010.
 
 Click Here**VMA Taxation Poll**Click Here
 
 
NAM RELEASES NEW STUDY
 
A new economic report sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and conducted by the non-partisan, independent Milken Institute shows that changes to economic and tax policies and investment in key infrastructure project categories could spur sustained economic growth in Virginia and create more than 11 million jobs in the United States this decade.
 
Reducing the U.S. corporate income tax to match the average of other industrial countries (OECD nations) would trigger new growth. By 2019, it could boost real GDP by $375.5 billion and create an additional 350,000 manufacturing jobs - increasing total employment by 2.1 million.
 
The full report is available at www.milkeninstitute.org. A data web site with the outcomes of the policy simulations and data sets for the investment in each of the project categories is available at www.milkeninstitute.org/jobsforamerica. An interactive investment model allows the user to input an investment amount in each category and calculate the projected jobs, wages and output.
 
 
MANUFACTURING WAGES
 
 
According to the Virginia Employment Commission's Manufacturing Report, manufacturing average weekly wages increased 91.5% since 1990. 
 
Manufacturing average weekly wages also increased by 17.5% since 2004 - reaching $921 in Q2 2009.