PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranked poorly on the 2017 Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card for the United States from the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research and Conexus Indiana, a private sector-led initiative focused on the advancement of the manufacturing and logistics sectors.
The report includes nine rankings based on a state’s likeliness to be chosen by a site expert for a manufacturing or logistics firm. Grades were based on state rankings that were distributed through a bell curve and denoted as a letter grade A through F.
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Rhode Island scored a D+ for overall manufacturing industry health, maintaining the same grade the state received last year. The logistic industry health grade also did not improve in 2017 in Rhode Island, remaining an F, one of five states to pull down the worst ranking in the country in logistics.
Rhode Island’s 2017 performance:
- Rhode Island’s ranking for human capital improved from 2016 from a C- to a C
- The Ocean State’s performance in worker benefit cost declined from a C- in 2016 to a D+
- Rhode Island maintained an F for its tax climate in 2017
- Rhode Island did not improve its expected fiscal liability gap since 2016, maintaining a C- grade
- Global reach in the state improved from a D- to a D in 2017
- Sector diversification, already Rhode Island’s best grade in the report improved from a B- to a B
- Rhode Island’s largest change in grade rankings was in its productivity and innovation which worsened from a C to a D+ in 2017
While Rhode Island performed poorly, the rest of New England did not fare much better. For instance, New Hampshire was the only state in New England to score above a C+ in either the manufacturing industry health or the logistics industry health in 2017.
New England rankings for manufacturing and logistics industry health 2017
Connecticut:
- Manufacturing industry health: C+
- Logistics industry health: D
Maine
- Manufacturing industry health: C-
- Logistics industry health: F
Massachusetts:
- Manufacturing industry health: C
- Logistics industry health: D
New Hampshire
- Manufacturing industry health: B-
- Logistics industry health: F
Vermont
- Manufacturing industry health: C
- Logistics industry health: D-
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
