Before the pandemic, American manufacturers were operating, no pun intended, like well-oiled machines. Manufacturing job openings weren’t an industry-wide issue.
The sector that launched the U.S. as a superpower at the turn of the 20th century was holding its own— striving to keep momentum from decades past, dabbling in automation, enjoying a healthy supply chain and benefitting from a stable, well-trained workforce in a strong economy.
As with all industry sectors, COVID-19 shutdowns changed everything. It was especially devastating for manufacturing which lost an estimated 1.4 million jobs at the pandemic’s start, according to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report.
2023 Manufacturing Industry Outlook: Employment Gap Remains A Big Issue
In January 2023, 803,000 manufacturing jobs remained open. All positions — on assembly and production lines, in supervising teams and robotics, in engineering and human resources, you name it— are in demand.
And putting a wrench in the situation: the National Association of Manufacturers estimates the sector will need to fill 4.6 million jobs by 2028. Their research confirms a mismatch of current worker skills and those required by advanced manufacturing. It’s difficult to find the right team members when the available workforce has outdated ideas about manufacturing methods and processes.
The Problem: Not Enough Workers for Manufacturing Jobs
How did we get to the point where there are not enough workers for manufacturing jobs?
As the pandemic’s effects eased, many skilled manufacturing workers chose not to return to the industry, having benefited from time off to discover new interests and abilities and learn new things. Competition for workers swelled, pitting manufacturing against other industries that retrained people for their own work.
A mainstay of manufacturing jobs, Baby Boomers retired in the droves. Meanwhile, those in younger generations — having grown up with iPhones in their hands and iPads in their laps — wanted different career paths. It hasn’t helped that remote work, rarely an option in manufacturing, is a big trend.
Among the most difficult recruitment challenges is finding talent with the right education or certification, according to The Workforce Institute. This problem doubled in severity from 2021 to 2022, their survey found.
The Solution: A Better Way to Find Top Talent for Manufacturing Job Openings
Just as in 2020, another pivot out of necessity is imperative. It is clear that embracing new ways of recruiting, hiring and retaining top talent is as necessary to the manufacturing process as the assembly lines themselves.
The “back in my day” ways of finding employees— posting a job on the break room bulletin board or company website, advertising in the classifieds or asking Joe who he knows — largely fails today.
Young people are on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter; so it’s the viral video with snippets of your people telling others why they should join your company that succeeds. And many people aren’t looking to change jobs, so you have to find them.
That’s where Recruitment Research comes in. Duffy’s exclusive five-step strategic approach involves an in-depth understanding of a client’s business and its competitors, targeting qualified, potential (and often “passive”) candidates in creative ways, and contacting/qualifying them for the client.
Recently I used this strategy to help a client, a Rhode Island-based global manufacturer of HVAC equipment. They needed to fill an import/export specialist’s position requiring a specific certification. There were few such individuals in the state, so casting a wide net was essential.
To do that, we connected with the association affiliated with the certification and with competitors already employing those people. This approach produced three vetted candidates and one new hire.
Most hiring leaders would say they don’t have the time to ensure your company culture and values are attractive to young people in the STEM talent pool. However, that’s exactly what top recruiters should be doing. That’s what will pay off in the long run. Embracing new technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, machine learning and robotics, where applicable, will speak volumes to Generation Z, who want to write programs and manage technology.
Post-pandemic, improving employee retention is a critical issue too. Manufacturers already short on long term workers can’t afford to lose good people. Excessive employee turnover burdens existing staff. Plus, recruiting, hiring and training new workers takes time and money.
One positive change from the pandemic is the focus on employee engagement. No longer can the boss only talk and the worker only listen. Rather, the wise employer communicates with the workforce, learning what it wants.
And this applies not just to salary and benefits, but also issues of job satisfaction. This includes potential flexibility in scheduled shifts, opportunities for upskilling and reskilling, to learn and advance, or to take advantage of student loan or mental health assistance.
After being isolated for so long earlier this decade, human connections are especially important now, and will continue to be. That’s worth remembering as you retool to rebuild your manufacturing workforce.
To learn more about Recruitment Research, Duffy Group’s effective, efficient and economical model for uncovering top talent, and the company’s manufacturing practice, contact Duffy Group at 602-861-5840 or info@duffygroup.com.
Manufacturing Fast Facts
Manufacturing plays a central role in the nation’s economy, and a qualified and adequately staffed workforce is essential in the industry’s success. Like in other sectors, the pandemic hit manufacturing hard, but the industry is growing once again and in dire need of workers.
| Total number of manufacturing workers in the United States: | 13 million |
|---|---|
| Growth in manufacturing GDP in 2022: | 2.5% |
| The number of U.S. manufacturing jobs that will be needed by 2028: | 4.6 million |
| Total manufacturing job openings in the United States: | 803,000 |
| Number of manufacturing workers hired in the United States in 2022: | 396,000 |
| Number of U.S. manufacturing jobs during the pandemic: | 1.4 million |
What many people don’t know is that most of the nation’s manufacturing firms are quite small, but they make a big contribution to the nation’s economy.
Consider:
- All told, manufacturers contributed $2 trillion to the economy in Q4 of 2022.
- For every $1 spent in manufacturing, there is a total impact of $2.60 to the overall economy.
- On average, manufacturing employees earned $95,900 in 2021 (including pay and benefits).
- Manufactured goods exports have grown substantially over the past couple of decades, but slowed in 2019 and 2020. U.S.-manufactured goods exports totaled approximately $1.4 trillion in 2021.
- Manufacturing in the United States would be the eighth-largest economy in the world.
- World trade in manufactured goods has more than doubled.
- Manufacturers perform more than 55% of all private-sector research and development.
Sources: National Association of Manufacturers, Deloitte 2023 Manufacturing Industry Outlook
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