The manufacturing industry has had more downs than ups over the past years as the economy continues to recover from the recession, but a 2017 Labor Department report shows that things may be brightening for manufacturers across the country. For the first time in years, factories are adding more jobs even as other sectors are struggling.
The report released in early September 2017 reveals that manufacturers across the United States are hiring workers faster than ever when compared to the last four years. This comes in sharp contrast to the recession, during which the manufacturing industry was one of the hardest hit, losing upwards of 2 million jobs. Slowly, the industry is making its way back to prosperity. In the last seven years alone, manufacturers gained back more than 1 million of their lost jobs.
A private survey also released in early September shows that activity levels in factories around the United States are the highest they've been in six years, underlining the much-awaited recovery of this vital economic sector. While both the manufacturing industry and the construction industry experienced an uptick in August, other service sectors are not faring quite so well in terms of added jobs.
The public sector may have taken the blunt of the blow, losing 9,000 jobs in August. The retail sector isn't faring too well either, having lost 900 jobs in the same period. This is likely a direct result of the ongoing consumer shift from brick-and-mortar stores to online retailers. While the hospitality and leisure sector continues its trend of steady growth, its numbers are fairly unimpressive as it created a mere 4,000 new positions. These sectors reflect an overall lackluster economy that resulted in a lower than expected 156,000 positions created, unremarkable wage increases and a slight increase in the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent.
Fortunately for manufacturers, the woes of retail and other less fortunate service sectors aren't translating into factory losses, even as automation increases across the board. While auto sales took a slight downturn in August, vehicle and parts factories increased employment by 14,000 in the same period.
The recovery of the manufacturing industry comes following Trump's highly marketed campaign promises to help U.S. manufacturing, although much of the growth took place during the Obama administration. Either way, manufacturers are happy to be back in business while providing much-needed employment for the nation's working class.
September's Labor Department report sheds a positive light on the manufacturing industry, which is steadily overcoming severe recession losses in a return to its days of glory. While other sectors and the economy as a whole are showing slower growth, manufacturers are hopeful about the future of the manufacturing industry in the coming months.
Photo courtesy of Bugphai at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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