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Report: Decline in Manufacturing Employment Not Due to Overregulation

Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission

State regulations don’t seem to be hampering Virginia’s manufacturing businesses. That’s according to a new report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the state’s independent research agency. 

Manufacturing is big business in Virginia -- think shipbuilding in Newport News, or the Volvo plant in the New River Valley.

And while employment in those industries has severely declined, product output is actually up.

“I think so much of the manufacturing industry has changed, that I wouldn’t necessarily say it is on the decline.”

Ellen Miller is a nonpartisan, legislative analyst for the state. According to a report she recently presented to lawmakers, the state’s manufacturing businesses have NOT been overburdened by regulations.

Complying with state and federal demands costs Virginia’s manufacturers between 1 and 5 billion dollars, a large number that’s a small percent of their output.

Mallory Noe-Payne is a Radio IQ reporter based in Richmond.
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