Kish: State manufacturing lagging
BYLINE: Joe Walker, The Paducah Sun, Ky.
Jan. 4--A Kentucky Association of Manufacturers executive says the state must stem the tide of losing $2.7 billion from 1997 through 2004 in manufacturing gross product, mostly to other countries.
"Kentucky needs a wake-up call," Marketing/Communications Vice President Marty Kish said. "We are getting beat by China, India, Mexico and in some cases, other states, because we're not doing a good enough job keeping existing manufacturers here and attracting new ones."
Kish expressed his concerns Wednesday in an interview after speaking to the Paducah Rotary Club. He said the slide can be reversed by lowering the cost of Kentucky manufacturing to be more competitive with foreign wages that are cents on the dollar. The average hourly and salaried wage in Kentucky plants is $45,000 a year.
The Louisville-based association's goal by 2012 is to make Kentucky one of the world's most attractive places for both new and existing industry. Board member Sandra Wilson of NewPage in Wickliffe said the KMA is one of the most effective lobbying groups in the state. Its marketing campaign:
--Backs legislation to abolish the alternate minimum tax on businesses, or at least change it to apply to net receipts or profits rather than gross receipts or profits. That was one problem that Gov. Ernie Fletcher's tax-modernization package didn't fix, Kish said.
"Our members hate it," he said. "We're going to fight hard to kill that tax this year."
--Supports incentives to help existing factories re-invest in training, technology and infrastructure in return for preserving jobs. Currently, state incentives are geared to attract new plants based on job creation.
--Advocates teaching secondary school students about the career opportunities for manufacturing and the need for greater education to compete for jobs. The KAM has formed a partnership with the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program to pair 260,000 plant workers statewide with students for an hour a week.
"We don't need an act of the legislature or money to make it happen," he said. "It's already there."
--Touts a new team approach with the Better Business Bureau to train plant employees about how the cost of excess absenteeism and other workplace-ethics issues threatens their jobs.
--Seeks to educate lawmakers on the critical importance of manufacturing. A recent poll showed that 54 percent of state senators and legislators didn't know that manufacturing is Kentucky's leading producer of gross domestic product by more than a 2-to-1 margin, Kish said. Manufacturing produces 20 percent of the GDP; commercial real estate sales and rentals is second at 9 percent.
"There's a disconnect between the people in Frankfort and the reality of the economic situation," he said.
On the Web: www.kamanufacturers.com
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