economic development

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http://www.cafwd.org Manufacturing in California, many believe, could be the answer to helping the Golden State's economy recover and there are cold hard facts to prove it. According to John Anderson, Director of Programs at California Manufacturing Technology Consulting, despite losing about 15,000 manufacturing jobs, in the last 10 years, Southern California continues to be the "largest manufacturing area in the country" with 29,000 workers in the industry. "Manufacturing is very much alive and very valuable in the state. But we need to do more to support it because it has that job multiplier. You see recent economic analysis says that it's either three to eight jobs for every manufacturing job because it's the support people." "The benefits of the state of growing manufacturing jobs are plenty. Those high paying jobs pay higher taxes and bring more volume to the economy in the local area, so it's nothing but a win for the state, but the state has to pay attention to it," said Anderson. In fact, ensuring manufacturing grows and thrives have become big priorities with folks in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. There's a proposal as part of the Governor's budget deal in the May revise that's pending approval with the legislature, that will include a sales tax and use tax exemption for manufacturing equipment and biotech R&D. "Right now so we urge our legislators and our partners in Sacramento to see the benefits and critical importance of driving manufacturing in the state. We think supporting this proposal will do just that," said Kish Rajan, Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. California Forward recently caught up with the GO-Biz director at the second annual Silicon Valley Regional Economic Forum who further explained the proposal.