Illinois Ranks Second in Ag Equipment Manufacturing Jobs

BY DAN GRANT

Illinois’ business climate certainly faces its share of challenges.

But with equipment makers such as Moline-based John Deere and Caterpillar in Peoria/Chicago, the state powered its way to the No. 2 spot in the nation when it comes to ag equipment-manufacturing jobs.

A report on the economic footprint of the ag equipment industry, released this month by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and produced by IHS Economics, shows Illinois is home to 9 percent of ag-manufacturing jobs nationwide.

Only Texas has a larger portion (16 percent) of those jobs. Wisconsin (8 percent) and Ohio and Iowa, each with 6 percent, round out the top five ag equipment-manufacturing job locations in the nation.

“Our goal (with the report) was to try to explain the impact, to the economic well-being of this country, of equipment manufacturers,” Dennis Slater, AEM president, told FarmWeek. “The footprint is much bigger than people understand. We have a great story to tell.”

Overall, the equipment-manufacturing industry supported about 1.3 million jobs and contributed more than $159 billion to the gross domestic product in 2016.

Ag equipment manufacturing supports about 114,000 jobs directly and 321,000 nationwide when service networks and dealers are added to the mix.

“Illinois is one of the leading (ag equipment manufacturers),” Slater said. “We broke it down by state so people can talk about (the economic impact of equipment manufacturing) by their district or state.”

Overall, farm equipment accounts for about 27 percent of all equipment manufacturing in the U.S.