Major Changes in American Manufacturing
Manufacturing jobs used to be one of the major contributors to the American labor force. Today, more and more manufacturing jobs are available and despite this, manufacturing companies are still having a difficult time filling new positions. Why are Americans, Millennials in particular, steering away from these jobs to work in other fields? Also, what are manufacturing companies doing to resolve their problem?
More Appealing Fields of Work
About 50 years ago, the general perception of manufacturing jobs was relatively sound. It was high paying with benefits and you were pretty much guaranteed a solid salary all the way up to retirement. For some reason, this perception has changed within the last 20 years or so. Now factory jobs are viewed as being grim with dangerous labor and a lot of turnover. Due to this fact, millions of Millennials are deciding to pursue other fields of work.
This graphic clearly shows the dropoff in percentage over the years. Manufacturing reached its peak in the early to mid-1940s due to the fact that it was the height of World War II and there was such a high demand for these types of jobs. Ever since then, the percentage has been at a steady decline and as of 2016, it is at an all-time low. This is due to a number of factors but one of them is because Millennials are pursuing different lines of work. One of the more popular lines of work they are pursuing is in technology. It just so happens that many of the openings in manufacturing involve tech. It will be on these factories to recruit highly skilled tech workers to revive the field of manufacturing.
The Revival of the Manufacturing Industry
In order to save their industry, manufacturing companies are taking measures to make their job openings more appealing. According to Republic 3.0, it is projected that there will be over 3 million openings within the next decade. In order to fill these positions, companies are making them more appealing and changing public perception. “Manufacturers have recently launched an annual effort — Manufacturing Day — to show young Americans first-hand what today’s manufacturing jobs are like. In 2014, the initiative involved more than 400,000 participants at events across the country, including an appearance by President Obama at an Indiana steel facility’s open house.” States are also started programs that pay for your education if you pursue manufacturing tech jobs. It’s efforts like these that are making a big difference and will be essential to maintaining the balance of jobs in the future.
