Manufacturing wages in the Milwaukee area continued to outpace inflation even as job numbers fell, according to a new study of the four-county region released Thursday by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce.

The study analyzed the most current available data, from 2021, a year that saw continued employment declines that began with the start of the coronavirus pandemic the year before.

That's the bad news.

The good news: wages rose significantly in 2021, some manufacturing sectors posted strong growth and the value of goods produced per worker continued to improve.

The timing of the data makes it hard at times tell what changes were due to the pandemic and what represent continuations of longer term trends, said Bret Mayborne, MMAC's vice president of economic research.

But the bottom line is that the economy in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties remains heavily dependent on manufacturing, a sector that has been in decline for years but continues to offer some of the best paying jobs in the region.

"On one hand, having a large concentration in an industry sector that has seen declines in employment is not ideal," Mayborne said. "But the flip side to that is that the average manufacturing job pays higher than the average of all industries. So so it helps maintain the prosperity in the area."

Here's a by-the-numbers look at where manufacturing in the four-county area stands:

111,475 Milwaukee-area manufacturing jobs

The 111,475 manufacturing jobs in the four-county region in 2021 represented a 6.8% drop since 2019, the final year of a period of growth after the 2008 recession.

The economic downturn since 2020 wiped out modest post-recession gains that brought manufacturing employment to about 120,000 workers by 2019. However, that most recent peak was still well below the nearly 165,000 manufacturing jobs in the region in 2000.

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Milwaukee has 2nd highest concentration of manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

Manufacturing companies employ 14% of the region's workforce, led only by the health care and social assistance sector.

That places Milwaukee second, behind San Jose, California, for the second highest concentration of manufacturing workers among the nation's 50 largest metro areas.

$14.7 billion in products manufactured in the Milwaukee area

Manufacturing output fell 5.8%, to $14.7 billion, during the pandemic-related shutdowns and disruptions of 2020, the most recent year for which this number is available. The year had been preceded by three years of modest gains

Worker productivity is up 53% since 2001

While the value of manufactured goods fell, the value of goods produced per worker inched up 1%, reflecting continuing gains in worker productivity. Measured as gross domestic product per worker, each worker produced $127,000 worth of goods, a 53% increase from 2001.

Average pay for manufacturing workers now tops $70,000 a year

An 8% increase pushed average manufacturing pay in 2021 to $73,756 a year. The increase, the largest in the past two decades, was the first time it eclipsed $70,000.

That compares to annual average pay for all Milwaukee-area employees of $61,395 a year.

$85,000 plus for the average engineer

Electrical engineers top the pay scale for manufacturing-related jobs, averaging $94,577 a year. They're followed by mechanical engineers at $87,609, and industrial engineers at $85,737.

Advanced manufacturing is driving job growth

Engineering, technical and skilled manufacturing employment has grown significantly in the past decade, while assembly, fabrication, machining and packaging employment has fallen 20% or more.

The five fastest growing manufacturing occupations since 2010 are:

• Industrial engineers, up 120%

• CNC tool operators, up 95%

• Electrical engineers, up 47%

• Welders and other metal workers, up 45%

• Industrial engineering technicians, up 41%

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's manufacturing jobs concentration, good and bad, by the numbers