It is Manufacturing Month around the US. Companies are trying to get the attention of anyone they can. Everyone is promoting manufacturing to their surrounding communities in hopes of finding workers.
I know YOU all know about manufacturing. Our subscribers are ALL manufacturing people. If you are like me, you have scores of friends, family and acquaintances that DO NOT work in manufacturing. Odds are, they know nothing about manufacturing. Forward them this newsletter with an intro like, “If your kids want a well paying long term career, look at manufacturing.”
I have stood before numerous classes of Middle School students, asked them if they know what manufacturing is and received a sea of blank stares. One student would offer up a sheepish guess. That is when you know there is a great deal of work to be accomplished creating a workforce for tomorrow.
The most important thing to remember about manufacturing is that it is NOT ALL HIGH TECH. Sure we have engineers and technicians that have skilled education. We also employ accounting, finance, marketing, sales, human resources, and materials people that literally do not have an ounce of technical savvy.
Back into the 1930’s through the World War II build-up manufacturing employment represented nearly 40% of the workforce. This means the children in this country had a 4 out of 10 chance of having an adult family member working in manufacturing. From discussions around the dinner table to family gatherings, practically everyone knew someone that had a manufacturing career.
By the 1970’s, still nearly 25% of the workforce made their living from manufacturing. With the oil crisis led auto fuel mileage focus, making things like cars was still in the forefront of the news.
Once we hit the 90’s, we started approaching only 1 in 10 people working in manufacturing. Regardless of related stories, depending on your location or situation, it started to get unlikely that you had a relative or acquaintance working in manufacturing.
That’s not to say there are not jobs. As the percentage declined, the actual number of manufacturing jobs increased over time. The number of people working in manufacturing has gone from less than 9 million in the 40’s to over 12 million, an increase of nearly 40%. Numbers are up yet eased by increasing advances in productivity due to better machinery, robotics, and better training.
Another important statistic is wages. Recent statistics show that the average salary is manufacturing was $64,861/yr. Compare that with a few other industries:
Source: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, https://datausa.io/profile/naics/manufacturing#about
So spread the word. We, the people of manufacturing, especially you non-techy manufacturing workers, need to promote, expound, shout from the roof tops, how rewarding the careers in manufacturing are.