PRINCETON, Ind. President Barack Obama, who used northern Indiana RV manufacturers as a rallying point during the Great Recession, returned to the state Friday for the first time in three years to tout the role of manufacturing in the nation's economic recovery.
Obama toured Millennium Steel in Princeton before making his pitch for better wages and an increase in the federal minimum wage to a crowd of about 150.
"Wages and incomes have not moved up as fast as the gains we're making," he said to robust applause.
Despite its status as a Republican-leaning state, Indiana was a sound backdrop for Obama's manufacturing pitch. The sector accounts for 16.8 percent of the state's employment and 28.2 percent of the state's output, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The strong manufacturing base has also driven improvements in the state's unemployment rate.
Unlike northern Indiana, which saw unemployment rates as high as 19 percent in 2009 as the recreational vehicle industry collapsed, southwestern Indiana's manufacturing industry has weathered the downturn much better despite the departure of major employers such as Whirlpool.
Much of the credit for that goes to Toyota, which opened a plant in the late 1990s that has attracted numerous suppliers such as Millennium Steel.
Matt Robbins, 37, a Princeton native and owner of RPM Tool, which builds machines for supply lines at automakers and other companies, said Toyota has been a major benefit to the area. The manufacturing economy is so strong there , he said, that the area was largely untouched by the recession.
"You should be able to find a job, no problem, here," Robbins said.
But many manufacturers have said they're struggling to find qualified workers.
Republican Gov. Mike Pence and other state leaders have spent much of the past two years focused on overhauling how the state's high schools and college train students to enter the workforce. Much of the focus has turned to moderate-skill jobs, which have changed immensely in the past decade or so with improvements in technology.
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Obama plays on SW Indiana manufacturing success