U.S. manufacturers have faced significant headwinds this year: supply chain problems, a skilled labor shortage, inflation, and the war in Ukraine. And yet despite these issues—or perhaps, because of them—manufacturers continued to invest in people, plants and equipment.
Indeed, the push to boost domestic supply of things like microchips, medical devices and electric vehicles is propelling reshoring and foreign direct investment (FDI). In 2021, job announcements related to reshoring and FDI totaled 260,000, a record high, according to the Reshoring Initiative. That trend continued through the first half of this year. In fact, the Reshoring Initiative predicts that the total number of jobs created through reshoring or FDI will hit set a new record at 350,000 in 2022. If that projection is achieved, 2022 will bring the total number jobs announced since 2010 to more than 1.6 million.