Here is today's summary of economic development news, a free service of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, representing Alabama's private sector investment in economic development. If you enjoy NewsFlash, thank an EDPA Partner.
A longtime Lawrence manufacturer will close its production center in the East Hills Business Park later this year and ship the jobs to Alabama.
Kinedyne, a New Jersey-based manufacturer of cargo straps and other similar products, confirmed it has decided to close its Lawrence plant "later this summer" and move the work to a plant in Prattville, Ala.
It was unclear the total number of jobs that will be lost as part of the move. Data compiled by the Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence & Douglas County recently showed that Kinedyne had 93 employees in Lawrence. The company said 23 production and warehouse positions will be displaced by the closure by late summer. An undisclosed number of office employees will remain in Lawrence until December 2016. But the company confirmed those positions will be moved to Alabama after 2016.
International trade represents a major economic driver for Alabama, and more jobs have come to the state as a result.
International trade currently supports 558,384 jobs in Alabama, according to a data from Business Roundtable.
Trade-related jobs in Alabama grew 7.2 times faster than total employment from 2004 to 2013, with customers in 202 countries and territories purchasing Alabama-made products.
Mayor Sherman Guyton says Gadsden is more than holding its own when it comes to job growth.
Tuesday, Guyton told the City Council about a new report by Headlight, an economic data research firm. "Fastest Growing Manufacturing Metros in 2014" ranks Gadsden third at 4 percent among the state's 11 metropolitan statistical areas in percent of manufacturing employment growth in 2014.
The firm analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in developing the report.