American manufacturing is once again adding jobs. The catch: landing one of these positions may require a college degree.
This shift carries major implications for the US economy. High-skill roles typically pay better and generate more profit for employers, which in turn fuels economic growth. But because these positions demand higher levels of education, companies could face shortages of skilled labor if talent development programs fail to keep pace with industry needs.
Swift Coat, a company that produces anti-reflective coating glass for satellites, plans to hire two to three workers by the end of this year for its facility located in a dusty industrial park north of Phoenix. All positions require applicants to hold an engineering degree.
Swift is a microcosm of the broad transformation taking place across the US manufacturing landscape. Since last December, American manufacturers have added 72,000 jobs, offering a glimmer of hope for a manufacturing employment market that had been shrinking for years. But today's factory jobs no longer resemble what previous generations knew. Manufacturers are hiring more white-collar workers in management and business operations. At the same time, as factories become increasingly automated and production systems grow more complex, blue-collar positions increasingly require advanced skills training.
Binil Starly, director of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks at Arizona State University, said: "The manufacturing that is being reshored to the US today is not the manufacturing of the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. What you need is a new kind of worker with technology at the core."
According to US Department of Labor data, between 2015 and 2025, American manufacturers eliminated 244,000 jobs in so-called production roles such as assemblers and machine operators. During the same period, manufacturing companies added 358,000 positions in management, business and financial operations.
One factor driving this change is automation. Robots have replaced many front-line production workers but not managers or engineers, which has increased the share of these two types of employees in the manufacturing workforce. Automation has also made factory work more complex. As companies increasingly rely on sensors and data to monitor machine operations and identify potential problems, they need data analysts to extract useful information from vast amounts of data. Robots also require skilled technicians to maintain them. Starly said: "Now, no matter which factory you walk into, you simply cannot do the work without at least understanding how these systems operate."
Phoenix-based Swift uses highly sophisticated machinery to turn tiny particles known as nanomaterials into anti-reflective coatings. These coatings can be used to improve the efficiency of satellite solar panels, among other applications. Swift CEO Peter Firth said the startup currently has seven full-time employees, including one physics PhD, two mechanical engineering master's degree holders and one chemical engineering bachelor's degree holder. These employees run computer simulations, analyze data, design equipment and test coatings. Among the three shop technicians responsible for handling and inspecting samples, one holds an associate degree and another has received some college education. They also both have extensive work experience. Firth said: "If all the equipment ran perfectly, I could even call my mother and have her do these jobs. But we hire people for these positions to prevent and identify problems. So what you really need are people with relevant experience who can effectively accomplish these tasks."
Swift is investing in a new highly automated assembly line where robots handle loading and unloading of samples, requiring only one or two workers to monitor. Firth said this means the company may no longer hire five technicians but instead hire one technician and two engineers, with the latter earning higher salaries. "Our spending on human resources won't necessarily decrease," he said.
Meanwhile, traditional industries such as furniture manufacturing are contracting, while knowledge-intensive sectors including aerospace, computers, electrical equipment and heating and cooling systems have been adding jobs this year. According to US Census Bureau data, more than half of employees in the aircraft manufacturing industry hold at least a bachelor's degree. An analysis by LinkedIn shows that semiconductor manufacturers tend to hire college graduates more than other manufacturing companies.
Susan Houseman, an economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, said these high-skill positions not only pay better but also tend to eliminate much of the "monotonous, mind-numbing repetitive labor" compared with assembly line work of past decades. On the other hand, higher training requirements also mean higher barriers to employment. The era when high school graduates could walk straight into a factory and find a job is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Susan Helper, an economist at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management, said: "What worries me is whether people can access quality employment opportunities."
Concerned about skilled labor shortages, companies and industry organizations are racing to expand training programs. SME, a manufacturing industry association, employs about 125 people in its workforce development department and provides equipment such as drone programming kits and 3D printers to middle schools in hopes of sparking student interest in manufacturing careers. SME CEO Jeannine Kunz said: "Today, the pace of technological development has outpaced the pace of talent development. There is no area of manufacturing that isn't facing a talent shortage."
In Mesa, Arizona, the Arizona State University manufacturing school is training about 170 students to become equipment technicians for TSMC's rapidly expanding factory in Arizona. The school plans to increase enrollment to 800 next year. Founded five years ago, the school also has about 370 students currently pursuing bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.
Columbus, Ohio-based workforce development agency Aspyr Workforce Innovation was founded a decade ago, when manufacturing jobs were not yet a focus of its work. But in recent years, as more advanced manufacturing companies have entered the area, the situation has changed. Today, training local residents for manufacturing jobs has become an important part of Aspyr's operations. The agency's CEO, Lisa Patt-McDaniel, said current local training programs can still meet the needs of both employers and job seekers, but this could change if local industry continues to grow. For example, chipmaker Intel has announced plans to build two factories east of Columbus, expected to employ 3,000 workers combined. Patt-McDaniel said: "We're in good shape right now. But ask me again in two years and see where things stand."
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