With a nod to record output, recognizing Arizona’s 4,500 manufacturers, and to encourage others to locate here, Governor Doug Ducey has officially designated October as the Arizona Manufacturer’s Month for the third year in succession.

Having risen to its highest level of manufacturing output since the Great Recession and nearly recovered all of the output lost during that time, the state was reported to have risen from its lowest output of about $20 billion in 2009 to more than $24 billion in 2013 by RevAZ, a manufacturing promotion partnership between the Arizona Commerce Authority and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Arizona shone as fourth best in the nation for both semiconductor production and space and defense manufacturing in 2013, with over 4,500 manufacturing facilities, more than 155,000 employees, and an average annual wage of close to $70,000.

Additionally, statistics reveal that manufacturing comprises close to 9% of the state’s entire gross domestic product, totaling $24 billion—a healthy portion. For every manufacturing job in Arizona, another 1.3 is created—for a total of over 200,000 extra positions supported by manufacturing statewide.

Over 80% of Arizona’s exports are manufactured goods, primarily computer and electronic products, transportation equipment (inclusive of aircraft and spacecraft) and non-electrical machinery.

“In Arizona, we're manufacturing a revolution.” said RevAZ, noting that manufacturing is “anything but outdated, industrial assembly lines. Arizona's manufacturing is high tech. It's a computer driven powerhouse of the future.”