Last Friday, President Obama pointed to the improving labor market as a sign the economy is recovering. According to the jobs report released last week, companies hired more than 200,000 workers for the third consecutive month in February. The president, speaking to workers at a Rolls-Royce aircraft parts plant in Virginia, touted the 31,000 new manufacturing jobs, and suggested that manufacturing was fueling the recovery.

Read: American Cities Where Manufacturing is Booming

Indeed, manufacturing and exports appear to have been driving growth for some time, albeit slowly. According to a new Brookings report, U.S. exports, which represent 10.7% of gross domestic product, grew 11% in 2010, the fastest growth since 1997. The bulk of this growth, 75%, came from manufacturing.

In order to illustrate how export and manufacturing are fueling the economy, Brookings looked at exports in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in 2009 and 2010. Based on the Brookings report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 cities where manufacturing fueled export growth the most.

Most of the cities where manufacturing is booming were once major industrial centers. Cities like Cleveland and Milwaukee were manufacturing hubs as early as the mid 1800s. In the late 1970s, however, manufacturing began declining and today represents only a fraction of GDP in these areas. Other industries have since taken larger shares of GDP and employment. For example, in Toledo, which was once a leader in auto manufacturing, the health care industry is now the city’s biggest employer. Today, manufacturing only accounts for 13% of the labor force in the metropolitan region.

For this reason, the impact manufacturing has had on these cities can be hard to detect. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, while exports have grown substantially in these regions, total GDP has not. Between 2009 and 2010, GDP grew at or below the national rate of 2.5% in six of the 10 cities.

Even though GDP growth was unimpressive in several of these cities, manufacturing and export growth may have been the difference between growing at a modest rate and not growing at all. Export growth was responsible for at least 61% of GDP growth in these cities. In Milwaukee, exports offset losses in other sectors, growing by $1.1 billion between 2009 and 2010, while GDP only grew by $944 million. Among the cities where manufacturing was fueling export growth most, manufacturing accounted for at least 88% of this growth.

It is clear these cities have some ways go before manufacturing’s impact is readily seen. Median income in these areas remains among the lowest in the country. Six of the 10 metropolitan areas are in the bottom third among major cities for income. Toledo, for example, has a median household income of just $43,260, the 11th lowest in the country. In many of these cities, median income fell even as manufacturing jobs increased. In fact, only one city of the 10 showed an increase in income. Meanwhile, the declines in income in the other cities were among the worst in the country.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on the 100 largest metropolitan areas from Brookings’ report “Export Nation: 2012, How Metropolitan Areas Are Driving National Growth.” Median household income data are from the U.S. Census Bureau. Also included from the Brookings report are GDP and GDP growth by region, exports and export growth by region, and export production jobs and export production growth by region.

These are the 10 cities where manufacturing is booming.

Shares of RadioShack are down nearly -29% in early trading this morning on a weak pre-announcement of quarterly results. Nearly 31 million shares have been traded so far today, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 2 million shares traded. We have more coverage here.

A big winner this morning has been Vringo, also up about 29% on essentially no news. More than 2 million shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of around 65,000. Our take on the run-up is here.

Gentex is down more than -11% following a quarterly earnings report that missed estimates due to falling margins. Nearly 3 million shares have traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 753,000.

Rare Earth Resources is up nearly 15% on essentially no news other than a ruling from the WTO that China’s restriction on rare earth minerals’ exports violates global trade rules. More than 5 million shares have traded by mid-day, compared with a daily average of about 1.4million.

Clean Diesel shares are up more than 14% on essentially no news. More than 600,000 shares have already traded this morning, compared with a 3-month daily average of about 140,000 shares.

Paul Ausick

FULL ARTICLE FROM MORNINGSTAR

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) rose over 14.4% to a yearly high of $20 after the maker of vehicle mirrors reported 4Q earnings that beat analyst consensus.

Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA) rose over 12% to a yearly high of $14.20 after the chemical company reported earnings of $0.43, beating analyst estimates.

Garrett W. McIntyre

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Delphi Financial (NYSE: DFG) Started as Outperform at KBW.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Rochdale.
Gentex (NASDAQ: GNTX) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Started as Buy at Genuity.
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Rochdale.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 26, 2009

Genex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) jumped over 20% today after the vehicle mirror supplier announced a 3Q profit of $0.17, beating analyst estimates.

CNH Global NV (NYSE: CNH) jumped over 12% to a yearly high of $22.75 after the tractor maker reported a loss of $0.09 per share, beating analyst estimates. 

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) rallied over 5% to a yearly high of $35.00 after the company reported a 3Q profit of $0.38 per share and declared a dividend of $.05.

Garrett W. McIntyre

AT&T (T) Started as Sell at Pali Research.
Automatic Data (ADP) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Gentex (GNTX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Harman (HAR) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Johnson Controls (JCI) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Paychex (PAYX) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
YRC Worldwide (YRCW) Cut to Underperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG

• Agilent (NYSE: A) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
• Gentex (NASDAQ: GNTX) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
• Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
• Alcoa (NYSE: AA) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
• Allergan (NYSE: AGN) Cut to Hold at Lazard.
• Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
• Prestige Brands (NYSE: PBH) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
• Sovran Self Storage (NYSE: SSS) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
• STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) Cut to Sell at UBS.
• Tenneco (NYSE: TEN) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.

Jon C. Ogg
January 12, 2009

Gentex Corportion (GNTX) Cuts revenue outlook, downgraded by Baird. Drops to $12.36 from 52-week high of $22.60.

SLM (SLM) Student loan business exposed to credit crisis. Drops to $8.63 from 52-week high of $53.65.

Actuant Corp (ATU) Weak sales and outlook. Drops to $21.58 from 52-week high of $37.15.

Douglas A. McIntyre

• Acme Packet (APKT) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
• Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
• Gentex (GNTX) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
• Nymagic (NYM) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
• ProLogis (PLD) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
• Rockwell Automation (ROK) Started as Sell at Societe Generale.
• Total System Services (TSS) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
• Virtual Radiologic (VRAD) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.

Jon C. Ogg
September 30, 2008