According to DEED’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data, the 23-county Southwest Minnesota region was home to 602 manufacturing establishments providing 32,941 jobs through the third quarter of 2016. That was 10.2 percent of total manufacturing employment in the state. Manufacturing accounted for 18.6 percent of total employment in the region, making it the largest industry in the region ahead of health care and social assistance (30,787 jobs) and ahead of retail trade (20,733 jobs). Southwest is the only region in the state where manufacturing is still the largest employing industry.