Drugmaker Pfizer Adding 450 Jobs In Michigan

LANSING, MI — Hundreds of new jobs are being created in Michigan, state officials announced this week. Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. plans to expand manufacturing in Michigan and add 450 jobs under an incentivized deal by Michigan’s economic development leaders.

The company is expected to spend $465 million building a new facility in Portage near Kalamazoo, with production starting in 2024. Average pay will range from $70,100 to $93,300.

Michigan Economic Development Corp. officials said New York-based Pfizer, which has 2,200 employees in the Kalamazoo area, could have chosen to expand at one of a dozen other facilities, WDIV reported. The new 400,000-square-foot plant is needed because pharmaceutical companies must start making injectable drugs in sterile, self-contained production rooms under Food and Drug Administration regulations.

Pfizer is the first business to secure Michigan’s “Good Jobs” incentives, which were enacted into law a year ago in a bid to attract large-scale expansions, the report said. The drugmaker will keep all of the income taxes associated with 354 of the 450 jobs for 10 years — capped at $10.5 million. Those positions will pay an average wage of about $70,000.

“Every day, we strive to enhance our ability to bring medicines to the patients who need them, and the new facility we are building in Michigan will help us continue to deliver therapies that significantly improve people’s lives,” Chairman and CEO Ian Reed said in a statement.

The city of Portage has offered Pfizer a 50 percent property tax abatement to construct the facility there.
Those are the only jobs being announced around the state. According to WDIV, the state economic development board on Tuesday approved:

• A $2 million grant for Saginaw-based Morley Companies Inc. to expand in Saginaw County and add 525 jobs, with an investment of $5.2 million. The company helps businesses with meeting planning, back office processing, trade shows and other services, according to the report.
• A $2.7 million grant for Spain-based SAPA Transmission Inc. to locate its North American headquarters in Macomb County’s Shelby Township, where it also plans to spend $40 million on a new production facility and add 223 jobs. The company builds transmissions for tracked and wheeled vehicles in the defense industry.

Image via Shutterstock

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