Montana got a grade of F for the health of its manufacturing industry, according to a recent report from Ball State University – a decline from a D- grade in 2019.

Montana maintained a C for logistics, C+ for human capital – up from a C in 2019. The state dropped to a B+ for tax climate, down from an A. F for expected fiscal liability, C for sector diversification, a D+ for productivity and innovation — a step up from a D last year, and a D for Global Reach.

The 2020 Manufacturing Scorecard from Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) analyzes how each state ranks among its peers in several areas of the economy that underlie the success of manufacturing and logistics. 

The production of goods holds particular interest in the US economy. Manufacturing firms are not necessarily reliant on local demand for goods and are therefore footloose. Their location depends more on local factors such as the quality and availability of the labor force, transportation infrastructure, nonwage labor costs, access to innovative technologies, and the cost of doing business.

Manufacturing is the production of both consumer durable goods and consumer non-durable goods. The study included three variables: the share of total income earned by manufacturing employees in each state, the wage premium paid to manufacturing workers relative to the other states’ employees, and the share of manufacturing employment per capita.