WILL MANUFACTURING COME BACK TO PHILADELPHIA?

by PIDCphila
January 17, 2013

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The Disston Saw Works in Tacony.
The Disston Saw Works in Tacony.

We hope so!  Although PIDC is deeply involved with all economic sectors, we are still the the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation.

Today,  industry accounts for less than 20% of the jobs in the City.  Since the end of World War II, Philadelphia has gone from ‘Workshop of the World’ to the ‘Eds and Meds’ – based economy of today.  Penn, Temple, and CHOP have replaced Budd, Bromley Mills, and General Electric as the City’s biggest employers.

 

nutter-signs-_dunn
PIDC’s President John Grady (to the far right) looks on as Mayor Nutter signs Executive Order.

This week, the Mayor, City Council, the Commerce Department, PIDC, and the private sector joined together to create a Manufacturing Task Force to “develop a strategy to strengthen manufacturing in Philadelphia.  As the Mayor pointed out at the ceremony, “Manufacturing generates more than $1.3 billion in total wages and supports 23,100 direct manufacturing jobs in Philadelphia. Nationally, the sector is experiencing a resurgence as traditional and advanced manufacturing companies respond to increasingly favorable markets for high-quality and innovative products.”

This is not an effort to bring back the smokestack industries of the first half of the 20th Century.  These are long gone.  The Task Force will look to the clean, green, and high-tech companies that are transforming the industrial sector.  PIDC will be a part of developing this strategy and, as the City’s economic development agency, we look forward to deploying the resources to implement it.

 

 

 

 

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