The U.S. economy has lately experienced the consequences of overreliance on outsourced goods and labor, especially in Asia. COVID-related lockdowns in China caused shipping delays into 2022; later that year, widespread protests again created disruption. A catastrophic earthquake in Taiwan temporarily halted production of critical semiconductors in 2024. It’s no wonder that many companies are curious about investing in nearshoring production, hoping to prevent disruptions and reduce supply chain shocks. Unfortunately, the workforce may not have the muscle to support new factories in the U.S.
“As companies increasingly source more of their parts and products from the U.S.” manufacturers and plant owners “are struggling to find skilled workers to put a Made in America label on their goods,” reports The Wall Street Journal. During most of 2024, the difference between job openings in manufacturing and available workers has been a whopping 100,000. For durable goods manufacturing, the gap is even more acute, notes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: as many as “622,000 total manufacturing job openings [are] yet to be filled.” Meanwhile, companies are continuing to invest heavily in North American suppliers and plants for everything from furniture to electric vehicles, “boosted by U.S. government grants.” When those facilities open, the need for workers will be even higher.
Meanwhile, the tariffs threatened by President-elect Trump — to the tune of 25% for Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% for China — may exacerbate the problem, reports Inc. “73 percent of U.S. employers… have or are preparing to return production and supply chains to the U.S. and regional countries in response to Trump’s tariff plans [suggesting that] the nation’s factory labor shortage is likely to get worse in the next few years.”
Baby Boomers, who retired en masse during the pandemic, are one explanation for the shortage of skilled employees in factory jobs; image is another problem: “Teenagers think of jobs in plants as dirty and unskilled, even though factories have become cleaner and more reliant on skilled workers operating high-tech machinery,” WSJ goes on to explain. Plus, young people are increasingly interested in hybrid or work-from home office positions that were popularized during the pandemic, and some “youthful candidates balk at the rotating schedules and longer hours of shift work,” notes Inc. The cultural emphasis on four-year college degrees may also put some young people off from factory jobs, under the incorrect assumption that they don’t pay enough to support a middle-class lifestyle. As a response, some manufacturing groups are creating paid programs to teach high school students in the trades, Inc. continues. But attitudes must change quickly for these plans to gain widespread traction.
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