Manufacturing Workforce Demographics: 2025-2026 Data Report

Workforce Size and Sector Breakdown

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey counted 15.023 million employed manufacturing workers in 2024 on an annual average basis. The Current Employment Statistics payroll survey, which counts jobs rather than workers, showed 12.590 million manufacturing jobs as of January 2026, a difference explained largely by survey methodology and the inclusion of multiple job holders in the CPS count.

Durable goods manufacturing employs roughly 64.5% of the sector's workforce, with nondurable goods making up the remaining 35.5%.

Source: BLS CPS Table 18, 2024 annual averages

Age Distribution and the Aging Workforce

The median age of manufacturing workers in 2024 was 44.3 years, two full years older than the overall US workforce median of 42.2 years. Workers aged 45 to 64 account for 40.6% of manufacturing employment, a far higher share than in sectors like technology or food service.

The aging skew is even more pronounced within specific trades. Machine shop and turned product workers have a median age of 49.0. Metalworking machinery manufacturing workers average 51.1, the oldest of any detailed manufacturing subsector measured by BLS. Shipbuilding and boat building median age is a comparatively younger 42.0, while motor vehicle and equipment manufacturing workers average 43.8.

Source: BLS CPS Table 18b, Employed persons by detailed industry and age, 2024 annual averages

The Retirement Wave Already Underway

Workers 55 and older make up 26.0% of manufacturing employment. That is a materially higher share than the 23.4% they represent across all US industries. New Census Bureau research released in December 2025 quantifies how dramatically the sector has shifted: the share of manufacturing employment at firms where at least 25% of workers are over age 55 rose from 14% in 2006 to over 40% in 2022. No other major private-sector industry tracked a comparable increase over the same period.

That structural shift has direct operational consequences for plant managers and workforce planners. Experienced machinists, toolmakers, and process engineers are retiring faster than apprenticeship and training pipelines can replace them. The Manufacturing Institute projects that 3.8 million manufacturing positions will open by 2033, driven by both retirements and demand growth, with nearly half potentially going unfilled if current trends continue.

Median Age by Manufacturing Subsector (2024)

Source: BLS CPS Table 18b, 2024 annual averages

Gender Representation by Subsector

Women held 29.3% of all manufacturing jobs in 2024, compared to 47.1% across the full US workforce. The gap is structural: production occupations such as machining, welding, and heavy equipment operation remain overwhelmingly male, while administrative, quality, and laboratory roles within manufacturing have substantially higher female representation.

Female representation varies widely across manufacturing subsectors. Nondurable goods manufacturing has 36.8% women, noticeably higher than durable goods at 25.2%. The food manufacturing subsector leads overall with 41.0% women. Textiles, apparel, and leather reach 51.3% female, the only manufacturing subsector where women are a majority. At the other end, foundries (7.0%), structural metals (16.1%), and mining-adjacent metal processing are predominantly male environments.

Source: BLS CPS Table 18, 2024 annual averages

Racial and Ethnic Composition

The manufacturing sector broadly reflects the US workforce in racial composition, though with notable variation by subsector. BLS CPS 2024 data shows White workers make up 77.8% of manufacturing employment, Black or African American workers account for 11.2%, Asian workers represent 7.7%, and Hispanic or Latino workers comprise 18.3% of the manufacturing workforce (Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race, and overlaps with other categories in BLS reporting).

Source: BLS CPS Table 18, 2024 annual averages. Note: Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity category and can overlap with race categories.

Education Levels in Manufacturing

The educational profile of manufacturing workers has shifted dramatically over the past five decades. Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce tracked this transformation: in 1970, only 8% of manufacturing workers held a bachelor's degree. By 2016, that figure had risen to roughly 31%, with the trend continuing upward through the 2020s as advanced manufacturing roles increasingly demand technical degrees, engineering credentials, and specialized certifications.

The change is not uniform. Production workers on shop floors still primarily hold high school diplomas or vocational credentials. Engineering, quality, supply chain, and management roles within the same plants increasingly require four-year or graduate degrees. This bifurcation creates real tension for manufacturers trying to fill both entry-level production slots and highly technical senior roles.

The increasing education requirement for manufacturing jobs has significant implications for workforce recruitment. The sector now competes with finance, technology, and healthcare for college graduates, while simultaneously struggling to attract skilled trade workers who previously would have entered manufacturing directly from high school. Programs like FAME USA (the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education), which the Manufacturing Institute has expanded nationally since acquiring from Toyota in 2019, attempt to bridge this gap through two-year technical training partnerships with community colleges and employers.

Geographic Distribution by State

Manufacturing employment clusters heavily in the Midwest and South. The US Census Bureau 2022 Economic Census found that California led the nation in absolute manufacturing employment with 1,181,588 workers, followed by Texas (853,346), Ohio (678,989), Michigan (590,386), and Pennsylvania (563,035). More recent BLS estimates put California around 1.22 million manufacturing jobs.

But absolute job counts mask the importance of manufacturing to individual state economies. Indiana and Wisconsin compete for the title of most manufacturing-intensive states, each with manufacturing representing roughly 15.8% of total state employment as of late 2024. These Rust Belt and Great Lakes states depend on manufacturing in ways that California or Texas do not, despite having far fewer total jobs.

Source: US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Manufacturing Week data release

Manufacturing Intensity: Share of State Employment

Per-capita manufacturing intensity tells a different story from raw job counts. States like Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky, and Iowa derive a far larger share of their total employment from manufacturing than more diversified economies. Indiana and Wisconsin rank first and second by this measure, with manufacturing accounting for roughly 15.8% of total state employment as of late 2024.

Regional variation in the manufacturing workforce also shapes demographics. The Midwest manufacturing workforce tends to be older, more unionized, and more heavily concentrated in durable goods. Southern states like Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina have seen substantial manufacturing job growth since 2010, driven by automotive and aerospace investment, with newer facilities that tend toward younger workforces and lower union density.

Union Membership in Manufacturing

Manufacturing union membership stood at 7.8% in 2024, with 8.7% of manufacturing workers covered by a union contract (the slightly higher "represented" figure includes workers covered by union contracts but not union members themselves). In 2025, preliminary BLS data shows membership at 7.7% and representation at 8.4%.

These figures represent a sharp decline from historical peaks. In the 1950s, roughly 40% of manufacturing workers belonged to unions. The steady erosion reflects a combination of southern plant growth (where right-to-work laws limit union organizing), increased automation displacing unionized assembly workers, and the broader decline of US heavy industry in international trade competition.

Source: BLS Table 3: Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry, 2024-2025 annual averages

Manufacturing union membership (7.8%) is lower than the overall US workforce rate (9.9%) as of 2024, a reversal of the historical pattern where manufacturing was among the most heavily unionized sectors. Construction (10.3%) and public-sector work now have higher union density than manufacturing. The United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers, and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers remain the dominant manufacturing unions, though their combined membership is a fraction of post-WWII levels.

Compensation and Earnings

Manufacturing workers earn a premium over the broader private sector average. Total compensation (pay plus benefits) for a manufacturing employee reached more than $102,000 per year in 2024 according to the Manufacturing Institute, while other NAM data puts total compensation at $106,691 including benefits. Either figure represents an 18% premium over the all-private-sector average.

As of January 2026, the average weekly earnings for all manufacturing production and nonsupervisory employees were tracked by BLS. The sector's earnings advantage over the private sector average has been a consistent feature of manufacturing employment data, reflecting the physical demands, safety requirements, and specialized skills the work demands.

Compensation varies considerably by subsector. Computer and electronic product manufacturing, aerospace, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and industrial machinery tend to offer the highest wages. Food processing, wood products, and textile manufacturing generally sit at the lower end of the manufacturing wage distribution, though still above retail and food service medians.

Union representation also influences pay. BLS data on production occupations shows unionized production workers consistently earn more than their non-union counterparts in the same occupations, though the premium varies by specific role and geography. For a detailed breakdown of manufacturing wages by job title and state, see our companion report: Manufacturing Salaries by State and Role.

Workforce Trends and Projections

Current Employment Levels

Manufacturing payroll employment stood at 12,590,000 as of January 2026 (preliminary), essentially flat compared to a year prior. The sector added back jobs steadily from the 2010 trough of roughly 11.4 million but has leveled off in the range of 12.5 to 12.6 million since 2022. Job openings in manufacturing totaled 415,000 in December 2025, down from highs above 850,000 during the 2021-2022 post-pandemic surge.

The 2033 Workforce Outlook

The combination of Baby Boomer retirements and projected manufacturing demand growth creates a workforce math problem that is difficult to solve. The Manufacturing Institute projects 3.8 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled by 2033. Roughly 1.9 million of those positions could go unfilled at current rates of workforce development and entry. That potential shortfall would cost the US economy over $1 trillion by 2030.

Reshoring and Workforce Implications

Reshoring and nearshoring of manufacturing activity, driven by post-pandemic supply chain rethinks and domestic industrial policy, has added jobs in semiconductor fabrication, EV battery production, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and critical minerals processing. These sectors often require different workforce demographics than traditional manufacturing, including more four-year and graduate-level engineering talent and more women in technical roles, which does not directly solve the skilled trades shortage in legacy manufacturing.

What the Demographics Mean for Manufacturers

Manufacturing HR and workforce planners need to contend with several simultaneous demographic pressures:

• Retirement surge: With 26% of manufacturing workers over 55, a wave of skilled-trades retirements is underway and accelerating. Knowledge transfer programs and apprenticeship pipelines are inadequate at current scale.
• Youth underrepresentation: Workers under 25 make up only 7.9% of manufacturing employment, compared to 12.3% across all industries. The sector is not attracting the next generation at the pace needed to replace retiring workers.
• Gender gap in production roles: With 70.7% male employment overall and subsectors like foundries and metal fabrication at 83-93% male, manufacturers are recruiting from a smaller talent pool than they need to. Targeted initiatives can measurably change this in 3-5 year timeframes.
• Education bifurcation: Entry-level production slots require different recruitment channels than engineering and management roles. Manufacturers increasingly need strategies for both simultaneously.
• Geographic concentration risk: Heavy concentration in Rust Belt states, which have above-average workforce aging, intensifies the retirement pressure in the very regions most dependent on manufacturing jobs.

Cite This Data

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