18 OCT 2022
The Wyoming Economic Developers Association (WEDA) encourages members to celebrate Manufacturing Month this October by publicly thanking and celebrating the manufacturing companies that call Wyoming home. These companies provide meaningful employment opportunities, employing 3.62% of the workforce and accounting for 5.39% of the total output in the state - $2.18 billion in 2019. With an average annual compensation of $75,323.36 in 2019, these are high-paying jobs that can support a family and create secondary jobs within our communities.
Acknowledging Wyoming’s manufacturing community, and making them feel appreciated, is an important part of Business Retention and Expansion activities. Fortunately, it’s easy to recognize their contribution during Manufacturing Month. In addition to publicly thanking them on social media and through site visits, economic developers can do the following:
- Organize events at local schools, inviting representatives from manufacturing companies to speak with students
- Promote manufacturing companies and the products they make on social media. This creates awareness of made-in-Wyoming products
- Publish a list of manufacturing job openings on your economic development website and share them on social media
- Make connections between manufacturing companies and potential suppliers within the community
- Connect manufacturers with state resources designed to prepare them to export products internationally
The goal of Manufacturing Month is to highlight the reality of modern manufacturing careers by encouraging thousands of companies and educational institutions around the nation. Including workforce-focused activities in your plans is key to fulfilling this mission. If it’s too late to plan a school event in 2022, use this as an opportunity to engage with educators and manufacturing companies to start planning for next year. “Going into local schools and exposing students to manufacturing careers is a best practice we are seeing throughout the country. We encourage Wyoming’s economic developers to plan events within their communities, to bring manufacturing representatives into the schools, and to plan site visits where students can see this work in action,” said Brittany Ashby, Executive Director of WEDA.