In a sea of international tumult over tariffs, trade, and tension about producing more in America, the Lehigh Valley remains an anchor of manufacturing stability, quietly growing jobs, output and the variety of products produced.
In just the last year, this two-county market in eastern Pennsylvania — tucked between New York City and Philadelphia — has surpassed $9 billion in manufacturing gross domestic product, cracked more than 37,000 skilled manufacturing jobs, and added a dozen new manufacturers in a half-dozen different industries.
As manufacturing recipes get rewritten every four years in Washington, D.C., our mid-sized market — one of the country’s fastest growing — has kept its head down the last 20 years and rebuilt an economy based on making and moving goods.
Manufacturing is the largest part of the Lehigh Valley’s economy. It’s 16% of the region’s $55.7…
