A new report published today finds that New York City’s manufacturing industry is enjoying its longest period of sustained job growth in several decades. However, the report shows that the growth is being driven not by traditional manufacturing firms but by awave of entrepreneurial, artisanal, technology-driven manufacturing companies. The study, by the Center for an Urban Future, concludes that three manufacturing sectors—3D printing, metal and wood fabrication, and food manufacturing—are particularly well-positioned to add jobs in the city in the years ahead.

Making It Here: The Future of Manufacturing in New York City is the first major report of the Center’s Middle Class Jobs Project, a research initiative funded by Fisher Brothers and Winston C. Fisher that aims to document strategies for the creation of middle income jobs in the five boroughs.

After losing an average of 8,370 manufacturing jobs annually from 2001 to 2011, the city’s manufacturing sector grew by 3,900 jobs from April 2011 to April 2016, including 1,100 jobs in the last twelve months. The report acknowledges that the industry’s growth has been modest compared to the city’s overall economic boom: manufacturing accounted for just 0.8 percent of the 513,500 new private sector jobs in the past five years. But the sector’s new growth is a much-needed shot in the arm for an industry that still provides a crucial source of middle-class jobs.

While there are real pockets of growth in the industry, many traditional manufacturers have continued to struggle. For instance, even as employment in the industry has ticked up in recent years, the number of manufacturing firms citywide declined from 5,976 in 2011 to 5,752 in 2015. The study suggests that some parts of the city’s manufacturing ecosystem offer significantly more promise than others, with distinct opportunities and challenges. It finds that three manufacturing sectors—3D printing, wood and metal fabrication, and food—offer the greatest promise for future growth.

3D printing

According to the study, the sector with the most unrealized promise is 3D printing. Even though early pioneers MakerBot and Shapeways have stumbled, the report finds that the wider 3D printing ecosystem in New York has been growing. Even more important, the city is home to a number of companies that use 3D printing to become more competitive in an increasingly wide array of businesses, from medical devices to jewelry and engineering.

The report points out that New York is the world’s leading hub for 3D printing. According to an industry trade publication, New York tops the list of global cities with 3,739 makers and 516 3D printers, far ahead of second place Los Angeles (which has 2,557 makers and 410 printers) and third place London (3,326 makers and 358 printers).

New York is thus well-positioned to reap the benefits as the industry grows in the coming years. MarketsandMarkets, a private research firm, reports that the industry is expected to grow from $4.98 billion in 2015 to $30.19 billion by 2022.

Wood and metal fabrication

With roughly 7,000 jobs citywide, fabrication trails only food and apparel manufacturing in overall employment. Driven by the city’s construction boom as well as growing demand for high-end, custom-made products, employment increased from 6,570 jobs in 2011 to 6,980 in 2015.

According to the report, the city’s metal and wood fabrication companies have benefited from growing demand for high-end interiors, finishes, and furniture. Much of this has been fueled by the city’s sharp rise in affluent residents, whose luxury condos and second homes in the Hamptons often include custom cabinetry, brass railings, chandeliers, spiral staircases and other artisanal wood and metal furnishings.

Food manufacturing

Of the 20 largest cities in the U.S., only two—Phoenix and San Jose—had a bigger percentage increase in food manufacturing jobs from 2005 to 2015 than New York. Employment in the city’s food manufacturing sector increased by 27 percent, from 13,929 jobs in 2005 to 17,682 in 2015. This was a faster rate of growth than in Houston (where food manufacturing jobs increased by 15 percent), Seattle (+10 percent), San Francisco (-3 percent), Los Angeles (-11 percent), Chicago (-11 percent), and many other cities.

Food recently surpassed garment production as the leading manufacturing sector in the city. According to the report, food now comprises 28 percent of all manufacturing jobs in Brooklyn, 27 percent in the Bronx, 26 percent in Staten Island, 21 percent in Queens, and 16 percent in Manhattan.

The report concludes that to realize manufacturing’s potential for additional growth, city and state economic development officials need to understand the changes taking place in these sectors. The average manufacturing firm in the city today has 13.1 employees, down from 17.4 employees in 2000. In Brooklyn, the average manufacturer has 12 workers (down from 16.8 in 2000). Unfortunately, city and state industrial programs are not always aimed at businesses of these sizes. Although city and state economic development agencies both have important programs to support local manufacturers, the report argues that more could be done to reorient their industrial strategies to support small makers and manufacturers.

“Manufacturing needs be a key component of the city’s economic growth,” said Winston C. Fisher, Partner at Fisher Brothers & sponsor of the Center for an Urban Future’s Middle Class Jobs Project. “The onus is on us to adopt policies that ensure this industry and the good-paying jobs it provides can continue to grow in the five boroughs.”

The author of the report, Charles Euchner, argues that manufacturing will remain a critical industry for New York even though its numbers are not likely to surpass 100,000 in a 4.2-million-job economy. “New York now boasts one of the world’s greatest creative economies,” said Euchner, the Center for an Urban Future’s Fisher Fellow. “We’ve got educated workers, dynamic industry clusters, the world’s best media sector, and dynamic finance and tech sectors. But to bring our innovation to the highest level, we also need to make things. New York is the ultimate laboratory for figuring out what people need and want. We can’t stop making things here.”