Manufacturing Employment Over the Next Ten Years

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released predictions and outlooks for manufacturing employment from 2014 to 2024. The outlook isn't good for people who work in manufacturing because it's one of five major industrial sectors expected to lower its labor pool over that 10-year span.

The BLS predicts manufacturing employment to decline 7 percent until 2024, with 814,000 people losing jobs. By comparison, the utilities and federal government sectors are the only two that suffer worse layoffs. Approximately 12.1 million people held manufacturing jobs in 2014, and by 2024 that number should lower to 11.3 million.

One bit of good news is that these lower numbers aren't as bad as the predictions BLS made for 2004 to 2014. More than 2 million jobs were lost during that decade. In 2004, around 14.3 million people held manufacturing jobs, while manufacturing employment fell to 12.1 million in 2014.

Certain areas of manufacturing may see even lower drops in employment. Semiconductor and electronics manufacturers could have a 10 percent rate drop. Plastics, computers, printing and communications equipment manufacturing should fall by more than 10 percent. Apparel and leather manufacturing could lower by a whopping 46 percent until 2024 if these labor statistics hold true. The textile industry as a whole drops by 25 percent.

Motor vehicle parts and aerospace parts production may suffer the least amount of damage with drops of 4 and 5 percent, respectively. The U.S. government doesn't list reasons why the manufacturing sector loses so many jobs, despite the resurgence in manufacturing from 2014 into 2015. However, some changes in the way companies make products could drive transformations in manufacturing.

Thanks to the advent of 3-D printing, advanced robotics and adaptive technology, manufacturing employment could show rapid changes until 2020. IT jobs should take off within manufacturers as companies find faster ways to produce more customizable products. That means companies need to hire engineers as opposed to production workers. Manufacturers could use real-time data to view supply chain issues, any changes that need to be made in the production line and upcoming maintenance issues with automation technology.

Connected devices, combined with data collection, can help humans predict when to replace equipment, how many products should be made and when to change output. Because these systems rely heavily on data storage, cloud computing software becomes vital to manufacturers moving forward with these technological advances. When the technology behind the production line changes, so does manufacturing employment. Workers within the industry, and the companies themselves, should prepare to educate the next-generation workforce, or even more jobs could be lost.

Manufacturing employment isn't all bleak. Lower-paying jobs give way to higher-paying, engineering-based positions as workers must learn to repair machines rather than produce actual goods. This shift in the way companies make products turns manufacturers into innovators and not just producers.

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