On jobs, the Inland Empire is not an outlier: regional manufacturing employment grew roughly in line with U.S. manufacturing over the last decade. But reviewing manufacturing only by jobs numbers misses the sector’s real importance to regional economic vitality.
Manufacturing is one of San Bernardino County’s highest-value sectors, despite representing a smaller share of employment than logistics, health care, or government. County data show manufacturing produces approximately $9.6 billion to $10 billion in annual GDP with roughly 51,000 jobs, or about $188,000 in economic value per worker. That is higher than many of the county’s largest employment sectors, but still roughly 25% below the U.S. manufacturing average of about $235,000 per worker.
That gap is not a weakness to accept. It is an opportunity to address.
If San Bernardino County manufacturing output per worker rose from roughly $188,000 to the national manufacturing benchmark of approximately $235,000, the sector would generate significantly more economic value without equivalent growth in land consumption or headcount. That is the purpose of modernization: helping firms produce more with the people, equipment, and facilities they already have.
Manufacturing also has one of the strongest multiplier effects in the economy. Nationally, every $1.00 spent in manufacturing creates approximately $2.69 in total economic activity. Because manufacturing is a traded sector, it brings outside dollars into the county, supports suppliers, and strengthens other major sectors including logistics, construction, agriculture, mining, packaging, plastics, utilities, and technical education.
This matters because San Bernardino County’s economy is heavily concentrated. Logistics, health care, and government together account for roughly 52% of county wage-and-salary employment: logistics at 20%, health care at 17%, and government at 15%. Manufacturing, by comparison, represents about 6% of employment and roughly 7% of county GDP, despite the Inland Empire being part of one of California’s and the nation’s larger manufacturing ecosystems.
Manufacturing also supports other sectors on a “Scope 2” indirect basis. Even if direct manufacturing employment appears modest, manufacturers create demand for construction, maintenance, utilities, packaging, logistics, professional services, raw materials, agricultural inputs, mining outputs, and technical labor. A healthier manufacturing sector makes logistics more valuable, keeps local input costs more stable, and creates stronger markets for community college and technical education graduates.
This has direct implications for policy and workforce development. Community colleges and public agencies should not evaluate manufacturing only by whether current factories can absorb large numbers of entry-level graduates. The better question is how the region can help existing firms grow, attract new manufacturers, and foster entrepreneurship so stronger technical job markets exist in the first place.
MCIE’s Manufacturing Modernization Assessments and Roadmaps are directly aligned with this need. They help manufacturers identify practical opportunities to increase output, reduce bottlenecks, improve systems, adopt advanced manufacturing techniques, and build capacity for future hiring.
Manufacturing matters because it creates value locally. It brings outside dollars into the county, strengthens the tax base, supports other major industries, and creates technical career pathways that cannot be replaced by logistics or local-serving services alone. For the Inland Empire, manufacturing is one of the region’s best opportunities for economic growth, diversification, and long-term stability.
