"New York remains among the most under-performing states with respect to manufacturing growth," says CBER director Michael Hicks. "The very poor tax climate in particular continues to stifle any expansion of manufacturing in the state."

The report also found that Pennsylvania has emerged as a much improved state for manufacturing. In fact, Pennsylvania is the only bright spot for manufacturing in the region. Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey continue to under-perform, due broadly to very unhealthy tax environments for manufacturers.

Delaware suffers from very little logistics with which to move manufactured goods.

The continued expansion of the nation's manufacturing sector continues to be one of the bright spots for the recovery. Unfortunately, it hasn't been enough to drag the entire economy into a full blown recovery, Hicks says.

CBER prepared the report at the request of Conexus Indiana, the state's advanced manufacturing initiative.

Source: Ball State University