Manufacturing Month
We are celebrating National Manufacturing month in October, recognizing the awesome act of MAKING things, rather than just providing a service to each other.
For us here at PlastiCert, it is kind of a paradoxical position, as we are both a manufacturer AND a service provider. At our core we manufacture things. We injection mold other companies’ plastic and composite parts for them, so they can manufacture their products.
As long as we are celebrating, I read an interesting article about information from the Economic Innovation Group on manufacturing sector employment.
It is on the rise!!
Rising from the low point after the triple whammy of corporations discovering cheap offshore labor, the recession of 2008, then followed by COVID.
That being said, in every economic expansion since the late 1970s, the U.S. manufacturing sector has failed to recover the jobs it lost in the preceding recession — until now.
Manufacturing jobs, 1970-2023, thousands
Still though, the percentage of the overall jobs in manufacturing is still shrinking. In 1970, the sector employed roughly 18 million workers, or 31% of private sector employment. By 2010, manufacturing jobs accounted for only 10.7% of the private workforce. As of 2023, the share was down to 9.7%.
Various industries and regions have been hit harder than others.
Change in manufacturing jobs, 2019-23, by state
The crucial point is we are making a comeback. Reshoring after the COVID supply chain debacle, the increase in vocational education in BOTH 2 year technical colleges and high schools are ALL contributing to a growth in manufacturing.
PlastiCert has always been all about small town rural manufacturing. It has been our secret sauce. From the quality of our operator workforce to the knowledge of our rural state university graduate engineers. It is what makes us the envy of the injection molding world. Comparing our operational and financial numbers to other molders tells us we are succeeding.
Want to outsource to a winner. Give us a call. Why should only our current customers reap all the rewards and sleep well at night?