Manufacturing had a great year in 2018, and 2019 promises to be as good. However, clouds are on the horizon.
For one, U.S. manufacturers are facing the worst labor shortage in 20 years. In June 2018, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported that job openings in manufacturing had reached 482,000 nationally, a 17-year high. At the same time, productivity growth in manufacturing has slowed. From 1992 to 2004, productivity increased by an average of 2 percent annually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In contrast, from 2004 through 2016, productivity declined by an average of 0.3 percent per year.