Rose Baker & David Passmore, Penn State
Research Report Available   Slides from Presentation at SourceNet Symposium

In September 2007, the Penn State Workforce Education & Development Initiative released a report by Rose Baker and David Passmore, Forecast of Employment and Job Openings in Pennsylvania Plastics Manufacturing, 2004-2017. In brief, concluded in the report is that, between 2004 and 2017, Pennsylvania is forecasted to lose employment and experience declining numbers of job openings in occupations in its plastics manufacturing industry as a result of manufacturing productivity increases and in spite of enjoying advantages relative to the entire US in delivered prices and in costs of production (except fuel). The industry is driven by net exports and by business–to–business sales. Disruptions of the export position of Pennsylvania plastics manufacturing or in increasing competition in Pennsylvania markets for Pennsylvania–manufactured plastics products would further degrade industry and occupational employment in the Pennsylvania plastics manufacturing industry. This report was presented on 13 March 2008 at the 2008 Pennsylvania Plastics SourceNet Symposium held at the Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania.


Contacts
Rose M. Baker, Program Manager, Workforce Assessment Center, 814.865.9919, rmb194@psu.edu.
David L. Passmore, Director, Institute for Research in Training & Development, 814.863.2583, dlp@psu.edu.

Penn State Workforce Education & Development Initiative
Mission
The Penn State Workforce Education & Development (WED) Initiative is the result of a memorandum of agreement between Penn State's College of Education and Penn State Outreach. The Initiative is in the midst of its second three–year agreement, an alliance that is renewable in July 2009. The mission of the WED Initiative is to support the development of the workforce in Pennsylvania primarily through the application of Penn State resources to conduct economic and workforce analyses for employers, industry partnerships, nonprofit organizations, and government entities. For a guide to information on the web about the WED Initiative, see http://PSU–WEDI-Guide.notlong.com.
Integrity and Independence in the Conduct and Reporting of Research
The Penn State WED Initiative often conducts research analysis about topics and issues that, at times, are the focus of vigorous debate and public attention and that frequently are associated with diverse stakeholders who represent divergent opinions. The Initiative adds value to this debate, attention, and discussion by conducting and reporting research and analysis decisions affecting economic and workforce development using the most objective approaches possible. The research and analysis of the WED Initiative are pursued independent of the commercial or political interests of any actual or potential sponsor of WED Initiative work. All research meeting the Initiative’s standards of quality for conduct and reporting is available to the public via links through "publications" and "presentations" keywords at the web site of the Institute for Research in Training and Development.

Support
Baker and Passmore's research on the Pennsylvania plastics manufacturing industry was funded by a grant awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative as implemented by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment & Training Administration. The information contained in this product was created by a grantee organization and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. All references to non-governmental companies or organizations, their services, products, or resources are offered for informational purposes and should not be construed as an endorsement by the Department of Labor. This product is copyrighted by the institution, Penn State, that created it and is intended for individual organizational, non-commercial use only.