The Kansas City metro’s manufacturing industry is expected to grow by more than 5% over the next 10 years, compared to a 1.3% growth nationwide. Manufacturing is expected to continue to be one of the region’s leading industries — particularly in the automotive, motor vehicle parts and communications equipment industries. It is projected that by the year 2020 the region will have 80,260 manufacturing jobs. (Source: Regional Workforce Intelligence Network (EMSI) and WANTED Analytics, supported by RWIN and its members.)