US Manufacturing Industry Saddled by Advanced Job Needs and Performance-Based Losses

The U.S. economy added a less-than-robust 142,000 jobs in August, which, though higher than the 89,000 added in July, highlighted some concerning sectors, including manufacturing. And while the unemployment rate slid lower, from 4.3 percent to 4.2 percent, the manufacturing sector shed 24,000 jobs last month. However, one of the more significant concerns for some about the industry in the United States is more than just the loss of available positions; it’s also about finding people with the skills to fill jobs related to the skill sets needed to transition to Manufacturing 4.0.
“There’s a lot of buzzwords out there, and right now, it’s manufacturing or industry 4.0, known as the fourth industrial revolution. It’s more about connectivity, analytics, and advanced manufacturing like 3D printing,” said Steve Plumb, a manufacturing industry expert who has spent most of his career in the automotive industry and is now the editor-in-chief for media at the Society for Manufacturing Engineers.
While manufacturing 4.0 refers to the utilization of technologies that entirely automate processes for decision-making across an entire product lifecycle, Plumb told The Epoch Times that evolution is making it tough for the industry to find the right people to fill those jobs.
“Automation is increasing at the same time, but that brings on new challenges. It’s different skill sets. So there’s a huge effort to get new people interested in manufacturing, especially at a younger age,” he said.
In its 2024 manufacturing industry outlook, professional services network Deloitte predicted that the manufacturing industry would continue to face “headwinds,” pointing to not only economic uncertainty, the need for product innovation, and targeted supply-chain disruptions but also the ongoing shortage of skilled labor.
According to The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM’s) manufacturing index, demand for U.S. manufacturing remained a weak spot in the economy for the fifth consecutive month. The ISM reported that economic activity in manufacturing contracted again in August for the 21st time in the past 22 months. That report also ignited a sizeable Wall Street selloff.
“Demand remains subdued,” wrote Timothy Fiore, chairman of the ISM survey, “as companies show an unwillingness to invest in capital and inventory due to [high interest rates] and election uncertainty.”
Mark Hamrick, the Washington bureau chief and senior economic analyst for Bankrate.com, told The Epoch Times that one of the struggles had been that of the United States carrying a disproportional amount of the weight in global manufacturing, hurting recent numbers and an increase in prices.
“Right now, there are 600,000 manufacturing jobs available in the United States, and it’s expected to grow to 2.1 million by 2030,” Plumb said.
In turn, several U.S. colleges have ramped up their degree programs for advanced manufacturing, but face the double-edged sword of not only needing money to invest in new classroom resources but also convincing students that manufacturing jobs can be the key to a great job future.
College-age students are possibly getting outdated descriptions and images from even their grandparents when they talk about what field to go into, perhaps talking about globalization but not about the many opportunities that exist. The globalization fear “is not true anymore as there’s been a big reshoring initiative underway for several years and plenty of good paying jobs,” Daniel Cox of Georgia Southern University told The Epoch Times. As a professor and founding chair of the school’s manufacturing engineering department, Cox said awareness is one of the more significant challenges in getting students to choose an educational path to engineering jobs.
“With advanced manufacturing, I think there is more, and AI [artificial intelligence] is a big topic for them. Government agencies are also starting to promote more workforce development programs in manufacturing engineering. These companies need all sorts of skills,” Cox said.
The effort to boost the job pool for the transition to advanced manufacturing and job cuts due to the sector’s lackluster performance has caused a sizeable shift in workforce numbers, according to the ISM survey.
“Respondents’ companies are continuing to reduce head-counts through layoffs, attrition, and hiring freezes. Sentiment in August indicated continued staff reductions compared to July, supported by the approximately 1-to-1.2 ratio of hiring versus head-count reduction comments,” Fiore wrote.