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Ask most West Virginians what businesses are important to our state’s economy, and you’ll often hear coal and tourism. Coal holds an historic role in our state; tourism’s value is more recent.
They are only two industries that offer economic benefit to the state. The polymer, or plastics, industry that offers long-term sustainable economic benefit.
According to a recently completed study by the Polymer Alliance Zone, this industry provides good-paying jobs, growing business opportunities and positive economic impact for our state and its residents.
West Virginia’s plastic industry, directly and indirectly, annually accounts for more that 22,630 jobs, $1.19 million in employee compensation, $2.2 billion in economic activity and pays more than $178 in state taxes, according to the study, which was conducted by the Marshall University Center for Business & Economic Research.
Our Industry is statewide and offers good paying jobs. There are more than 75 companies involved in the plastics industry in our state, and they operate in 33 of our 55 counties. The wages for employees in our industry average $54,000 per year, more than one and a half times the state’s average wages of $37,000.
In the Jackson, Madison and Wood counties region, where the Polymer Alliance Zone operates, more than 7,300 people are directly or indirectly employed by the industry, and the average plastics industry salary there is $74,000 per year. About 13 percent of all employment in that region is associated with the plastics industry.
Our industry is a divers, goods-producing industry. Some companies produce goods that are sold directly to businesses and households. Others produce intermediate products used by other industries. West Virginia’s plastics industry supplies products to the construction, mining, transportation, food production, medical, recreational and household sectors of our economy within and outside of West Virginia.
The West Virginia firms can be divided into four types of manufacturing:
Plastics materials and resins; Chemical additives, such as anti-oxidants, polyols, fire retardants and organofunctional silicones; Final and intermediate plastic and polymer products produced from a variety of materials; Services, such as compounding, mold making and plastics recycling.
West Virigina’s plastics industry today accounts for 3.6 percent of the state’s total economic activity. That percentage is likely to grow as new businesses, such as PWP Recycling in Wood County and Kureha Corp in Kanawha County, open and expand their operations in the state. Additionally, West Virginia plastics manufacturers enjoy an average operating profit margin of 8.5 percent compared with the national average of 4.6 percent.
Our state’s polymers industry has a reputation for world-class research and technology in electronics recycling. The Polymer Alliance Zone received a top 10 ranking for growth in plastics facilities from the Society of Plastics Industry.
At the Polymer Alliance Zone, a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the economic development of the polymer industry, we are proud of the steady and valuable work of our members and the other polymer and plastics businesses in the state.
We think it is important for West Virginians to know that, while many Polymer Alliance Zone businesses operate in Wood, Mason and Jackson counties, others operate successfully around the state. West Virginia has one of the highest concentrations of high-technology, specialty and engineering polymer companies in the world.
With the results of this study in hand, we intend to pursue our mission of encouraging partnerships with education and government institutions, promoting entrepreneurship in our industry and offering the best business environment for the polymer industry in the world.
~Karen Facemyer is president of the Polymer Alliance Zone, www.pazwv.org, and is a state senator from Jackson County.~
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