There’s some good news and bad news for the state.
Washington is nothing if not consistent when it comes to grades in Ball State University’s “2015 Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card.” The recently released report, which measures the health of manufacturing and logistics industries in areas such as human capital and worker benefit costs, points to little yearly change for the state—for better or worse.
Washington received straight A’s in the category of human capital for the seventh straight year, sector diversification for the sixth straight year, and productivity and innovation for the fourth straight year. The human capital category measures quality and availability of labor; sector diversification measures a broad range of manufacturing activity in different sectors; and productivity and innovation weighs the value of manufactured goods per worker along with access to university laboratories and non-profit research activities.
For as good as those sectors are, there is one glaring grade in Washington’s report: For the sixth straight year, the state received an F for worker benefit costs. The measure includes data on health care premiums and long-term health care costs, workers’ compensation costs per worker and various fringe benefits as a share of worker costs.
“These are affected by local and state public policy (laws), as well as worker demographics, health of workers, and performance of firms and industry,” the report says. Washington is one of only a few states to receive a failing mark in that category.
