Workforce in Focus

Labor Market by the Numbers

By MI NewsroomMarch 27, 2025
Kurt Schron, senior financial anylist and son of owner Jack Schron, walks with Jay Timmons through Jergens, a manufacturer of workholding solutions, lifting solutions, and specialty fasteners for the OEM, medical, auto, aerospace and metal working Industries. Jergens has placed an emphasis on hiring outside of the traditional manufacturing workforce including second chance hires and individuals with special needs. They have placed over 80 second chance individuals across their facilities. Over the last two years, Jergens invested heavily in R&D.

As manufacturing activity picks up in 2025, so do job postings. In January 2025, job openings for manufacturing increased by 31,000 to 462,000 from December. The gain was concentrated primarily in durable goods, up 26,000, while nondurable goods job openings rose by a smaller 4,000. The manufacturing job openings rate edged up 0.2% to 3.5% in January but declined from 4.1% the previous year.

  • The headline number: In the larger economy, the number of job openings rose to 7.7 million, an increase of 232,000 from the previous month but a decrease of 728,000 from the previous year. The job openings rate increased to 4.6%, up from 4.5% in December but down from 5.1% last year.

  • Bottomline: The labor market has eased closer to pre-pandemic levels, when the average number of openings in the sector was 432,000 (2017–2019), in contrast with the average of 832,500 between 2021 and 2023. As the labor market returns to its pre-pandemic normal, the structural challenge for the manufacturing workforce becomes more pronounced.

Long-term Challenge: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age of a manufacturing worker was 44.3 years old in 2024. This is slightly higher than the median age of a manufacturing worker in 2023, which was 44.1 years old, and above the median age of all industries of 42.2 years old.

According to a study by the MI and Deloitte, if we don’t solve the skills and applicant gap, the U.S. faces a shortfall of 1.9 million manufacturing workers by 2033. 3.8 million positions are estimated to open up, with 2.8 million driven by retirements. With so many jobs to fill, we will need everyone—veterans, career changers, women, second-chance hires—to be a part of manufacturing’s future.

  • For example: Manufacturers are the second highest employer of veterans for all private industries, employing 11.5% of working veterans in 2024, equating to roughly 942,000 veterans working in manufacturing.

  • Bottomline: While the jobless rate for veterans of 3.0% was lower than that of the total labor market at 3.9% in 2024, thousands of men and women transition out of the military each year.

  • Heroes Needed: There continues to be more job openings than people actively looking for work, with 88.5 unemployed workers for every 100 job openings in the U.S. economy. That’s why the MI’s Heroes MAKE America inititaive, which facilitates introductions and supports a community of veterans to ease the transition from active duty to a lucrative career in the manufacturing industry, is so important.