LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley’s economic renaissance continues.
Driven by $8.1 billion in manufacturing, the Valley's gross domestic product grew to a record $50.2 billion in 2022, Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. said in a news release Tuesday.
GDP measures total market value of the goods and services produced in a region over a year.
“The strength and diversification of our economy, driven by a growing $8 billion manufacturing sector, attracts new business investment and creates job opportunities that make the Lehigh Valley more prosperous.”LVEDC Chief Executive Officer Don Cunningham
“Crossing the $50 billion threshold in economic output is another sign of the Lehigh Valley’s impressive economic renaissance,” LVEDC Chief Executive Officer Don Cunningham said in the release.
“The strength and diversification of our economy, driven by a growing $8 billion manufacturing sector, attracts new business investment and creates job opportunities that make the Lehigh Valley more prosperous.”
Lehigh Valley’s manufacturing output consisted of about 700 companies, making things as diverse as medical devices and food and beverages.
Other leading contributors to the region’s GDP were: finance, insurance, real estate, education, health care, social assistance and professional and business services.
Manufacturing output rose to $8.1 billion, comprising 16% of the region’s GDP, according to LVEDC. That’s an increase from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’s adjusted 2021 figure of $7.3 billion.
Nationwide, manufacturing makes up 12% of GDP.
Larger than Vermont and Wyoming
Since 2017, the Lehigh Valley’s GDP has grown about $10 billion, LVEDC said.
Among regions of similar size (populations of 200,000 to 1 million), the Lehigh Valley is a Top 15 market for GDP and ranks 68th-largest of all regional economies in the United States, it said.
The latest GDP figures rank the Lehigh Valley’s economy larger than those of Vermont and Wyoming.
“Crossing the $50 billion threshold in economic output is another sign of the Lehigh Valley’s impressive economic renaissance.”LVEDC Chief Executive Officer Don Cunningham
If the Lehigh Valley were a country, it would be the 88th largest economy in the world, LVEDC said.
LVEDC tracks the GDP across the Lehigh Valley metro region, which comprises Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and Warren, New Jersey, counties. Lehigh and Northampton make up $43.4 billion of the metro region’s $50.2 billion private sector output.
A breakdown of contributors
The Lehigh Valley’s growing population contributed greatly to its economic rise, according to LVEDC. The increase in the workforce provides companies with the skilled labor needed to compete in a global economy, it said.
Other factors include the region’s 11 colleges and universities and three technical schools, which graduate a combined more than 11,000 students a year, creating a pipeline of talent for companies, according to LVEDC.
Geography also played a role. The Lehigh Valley is within a day’s drive of a third of the U.S. population and near regional ports and international airports, making it easy for producers to get their products to market, LVEDC said.
A breakdown of the contributors to the Lehigh Valley GDP in 2022:
• Manufacturing ($8.1 billion)
• Finance, insurance and real estate (data suppressed by Bureau of Economic Analysis)
• Education, health care and social assistance ($7.5 billion)
• Professional and business services ($6.3 billion)
• Retail trade ($3.5 billion)
• Transportation and warehousing ($3.3 billion)
• Information ($2.9 billion)
• Wholesale Trade (data suppressed by Bureau of Economic Analysis)
• Arts, entertainment, recreation and food services ($2.1 billion)
• Utilities ($642 million)
• Agriculture and forestry ($290 million)
