WASHINGTON—The latest Bureau of Economic Analysis data find that U.S. manufacturers produced $2.3852 trillion worth of goods in the first quarter of 2019, up from $2.3845 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2018. This production number represents an all-time high. Manufacturing accounted for 11.3 percent of real GDP in the first quarter of 2019—and the industry continues to have the largest economic multiplier of any major sector.
The industry’s continued success has created many new jobs as well. Manufacturing job openings were at an all-time high in May with 509,000 open jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. This job creation is actually exacerbating an existing challenge in the industry: a lack of enough skilled workers.
Manufacturers could have 2.4 million unfilled jobs by 2028, according to industry experts. The NAM and The Manufacturing Institute recently launched a $10 million Creators Wanted campaign, which plans to fill 600,000 manufacturing jobs by 2025.