Tag: workforce

September 26, 2017

Even as global automakers build new facilities and look to surpass producing 90 million light vehicles for the first time this year (Global Light Vehicle Production Summary, IHS Automotive, March 2016), their workforces are being strained on a number of […]

August 23, 2017

On the surface, the manufacturing industry’s “good news, bad news” scenario appears to lean toward the good. The 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index projects the U.S. will be the most competitive manufacturing economy in the world, currently being held by […]

August 10, 2017

In 2016, women accounted for just 29% of all U.S. manufacturing jobs. When you consider that women make up 47% of the entire U.S. workforce, that’s an alarmingly low number. What’s even more alarming is that the problem has nothing […]

August 7, 2017

The U.S. labor market hit its stride in July, as employers added workers at a solid clip, the jobless rate matched a 16-year low and monthly wage growth picked up. Payrolls rose 209,000 in July, well above the estimate of 180,000, […]

July 26, 2017

Research shows that over a million manufacturing jobs sit unfilled right now. That number is expected to increase to over 3 million by the end of this decade. A skills shortage is to blame, say most. “We need CNC operators, […]

July 20, 2017

Harley-Davidson Inc., the motorcycle maker President Donald Trump has praised for its U.S. manufacturing presence, is cutting workers as younger American consumers buy fewer bikes than baby boomers. CEOr Matt Levatich told analysts on July 18 that the company planned […]

July 20, 2017

MForesight looks at the importance of suppliers to manufacturers. A chain is only as strong as its weakest leak — and that’s definitely true in manufacturing. MForesight: Alliance for Manufacturing Foresight, a federally-funded national consortium focused on enhancing U.S. manufacturing, […]

July 14, 2017

U.S. manufacturing suffers from an important image problem that undermines its competitiveness, according to a new survey released on July 13 by Deloitte, along with the Manufacturing Institute. Only 50% of Americans think manufacturing jobs are interesting and less than 30% are […]

July 13, 2017

Women are “chronically” under-represented in the oil and gas industry and the sector is losing out by failing to draw on their skills, a study said on July 12. Women account for just 22% of workers in the oil and […]

July 7, 2017

Microsoft said on July 6 that it was cutting an unspecified number of jobs amid reports the tech giant was reorganizing its global sales operations. “Today, we are taking steps to notify some employees that their jobs are under consideration […]

June 30, 2017

A recurring topic of discussion during my recent trip touring Virginian manufacturing facilities was labor: finding it, hiring it, training it. For some manufacturers, the local reality is that there are not enough already-skilled people looking for work. Hiring under […]

June 28, 2017

On a recent visit to a household products manufacturing plant in California we were awestruck at the miles of machinery humming away on lonely factory floors. Only 75 employees in total were needed to keep this enormous 300,000 square foot […]

June 26, 2017

After a good run, warning lights are flashing in the auto industry—and that’s not good for either the broader manufacturing sector, heartland metropolitan areas, or President Trump. Here’s the problem: After seven strong years of growth after the crack-up of […]

June 23, 2017

Many engineers and executives in the manufacturing and industrial world command competitive salaries. But they also accrued significant student loan debt to get where they are today. Fortunately, there are several programs that can make student loan debt more manageable. […]

June 21, 2017

Ford Motor Co. (IW 500/4) is canceling controversial plans to build the Focus small car in Mexico, saving $1 billion by ending North American production entirely and importing the model mostly from China after next year. The automaker will start […]

June 16, 2017

Nike Inc. is cutting about 2% of its workforce as the athletic brand revamps global operations, part of a bid to move faster and ward off competition from Adidas AG and Under Armour Inc. The overhaul is an attempt to […]

June 14, 2017

U.S. manufacturing got walloped during the Great Recession. It lost 20% of its output and 15% of its workforce. “That’s second only to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when it lost about half its total output,”says Cliff Waldman,chief economist for the […]

May 31, 2017

If you gather a group of manufacturers and ask them what their biggest challenge is today, you’ll likely hear them respond in unison: difficulty filling skilled-labor jobs. Finding the right people with the right skills is both a result of […]

May 24, 2017

The White House released its proposed federal budget for 2018 today, and a number of manufacturing programs would either face drastic cuts or see their federal budgets eliminated entirely. Most notably, in the Department of Commerce budget, the $124 million […]

May 22, 2017

American labor and industry officials on May 18 blamed unfair foreign competition for destroying U.S. jobs, something President Donald Trump has railed about repeatedly. But in response to the administration’s call for comment on the causes of the U.S. trade […]