ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- President Obama says he will continue to try and spur growth in the manufacturing industry nationwide to try and bring back jobs. In last night's State of the Union Address he told congress that manufacturers are hiring for the first time since the late 1990s.

He said, "So we have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back. But we have to seize it. Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed."

In Illinois, close to twenty thousand manufacturing jobs were added last year. At a job fair today at in the Stateline over half of the employers looking to hire had ties to the field.