Kansas City, Mo. ? Although the manufacturing sector has lost millions of jobs during the past three years, Kansas City officials are getting ready for a rebound they hope could bring new plants and new jobs to the area.

“By all accounts, manufacturing is going to be on the upswing for the next couple of years, so we think that there is opportunity to assist in the growth of existing companies and the attraction of new companies,” said Bob Marcusse, president and chief executive of the Kansas City Area Development Council, which focused on manufacturing during its annual meeting this week.

On average, manufacturing jobs pay better than others — about 20 percent better, Marcusse said. And 98 percent of manufacturing employees receive full benefits, said Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, the nations’ largest industrial trade association.

“One of the reasons the manufacturing sector is good is long-term employment,” said Carl Reed, CEO of Abbott Workholding Inc., a Manhattan company that makes parts for machines and is a member of the Association for Manufacturing Technology.

Another reason for the Kansas City Area Development Council to seek new factories, Marcusse pointed out, is that other businesses in the area, particularly those in transportation, such as trucking giant Yellow Corp., based in Overland Park, are dependent on manufacturing.

Marcusse’s agency has partnered with NAM, which represents 14,000 companies and 350 associations throughout the United States, on a program that will promote manufacturing jobs to young people and prepare them for those jobs.

NAM wants to shatter what Jasinowski considers a myth about manufacturing employees: that they work in loud, dirty factories.

“The reality is those manufacturing environments were gone decades ago,” Jasinowski said.