Manufacturing experienced its best year in over a decade based on the number of jobs added at 7,088 and the percentage of job growth at 3.6 percent. As a percentage of total employment, Manufacturing has declined every year since 1989 when it accounted for 13.4 percent of all covered employment. The strongest growth areas within Manufacturing are industries associated with construction and high technology. The industries that have shown the greatest decreases are those that are labor intensive and commodity oriented. Some of the decline in Manufacturing's share of total employment can be contributed to increased use of temporary help agencies, whose employment is classified in Business Services.

The largest increase within Manufacturing occurred in Industrial and Commercial Machinery and Computer Equipment with an increase of 2,029. The majority of the increase occurred in Computer and Office Equipment, up 1,246 to 17,939. Other gainers in this sector included Construction, Mining, and Materials Handling Machinery, up 222 to 2,206 and Miscellaneous Industrial and Commercial Machinery and Equipment, up 254 to 4,658.

The second largest increase occurred in Transportation Equipment, which added 1,281 jobs to average 13,138 in 1997. The majority of the increase was not disclosable due to BLS guidelines. Motor Vehicles and motor Vehicle equipment increased by 476 jobs to 3,095.

Electronic and other Electrical Equipment and Components, Except Computer Equipment employment increased by 950 to 18,940 due to an increase of 679 jobs in Electronic Components and accessories to 11,906 and an increase of 664 jobs in Communications equipment to 4,994. The Miscellaneous portion of this sector declined by 387 jobs.

The second largest Manufacturing sector in Colorado is Printing, Publishing, and Allied Industries with average employment of 27,505 in 1997. This was an increase of 592 jobs. The increases occurred in Newspapers, up 291 to 7,813, Commercial printing, up 219 to 7,967, Greeting Cards, up 210 to 3,089 and Periodicals, up 155 to 2,476. Book publishing declined by 126 to 1,553.

Food and Kindred Products, with 25,892 jobs in 1997 experienced very little change in 1997, growing by only 28 jobs. The largest changes in this sector were Bakeries increasing by 150 jobs to 3,136 and Beverages decreasing by 171 to 6,158.

Employment growth in Furniture and Fixtures continued in 1997. Employment increased by 422 to 4,879. There were 3,532 jobs in this sector in 1994. The increase was largely due to an increase of 339 jobs in Household Furniture, which employed an average of 1,992 in 1997.