There is a love hate relationship that everyone will deal with at least once in their life. It may be as small as a chore around the house, or it could be raising children, or even running a large company. What is it that I’m referring to? Jobs. Simple as that. They are on the back of everyone’s mind, they cause us stress, but the benefits you can receive are unmeasurable. While some jobs are disappearing with the troubled economic times, other jobs are soaring to the top.
Careers in the manufacturing industry are coming back strong, and bringing large amounts of revenue into the economy. The United States Manufacturing sector produces the largest amount of goods and services. This meaning the United States beats out China and Japan, who usually have some of the top economies. While the industry is pumping out tons of product for the world, there is a need for many workers to help achieve this.
Jobs in the manufacturing industry come in a wide variety. Workers are needed in engineering, production, and manufacturing. The possibilities are endless. According the to the National Association of Manufacturers the manufacturing industry supports about 1 in 6 jobs, or an estimated 17.4 million jobs in just the United States alone. That’s a lot of jobs!
The manufacturing industry has done a complete change over the years. Most people still think a job in manufacturing will lead to them working long hours on cement floors, wearing hardhats, and still using paper time cards. This is in fact not true. The old school manufacturing plants everyone grew up seeing have changed drastically over the years.
Robotics and other computerized technologies are being used in more and more manufacturing plants to build products. Although technology is replacing humans in some respects, there have been more jobs created in other areas. Jobs such as machine repair, engineering, information technology, and delivery are booming because of this replacement. These changes have led to increased educational requirements to learn the ever changing technologies but the increase in deliverables has allowed the United States manufacturing sector to remain strong.
The average salary is another benefit drawing prospective employees to consider jobs in the manufacturing industry, however, the actual average salary is difficult to determine. In 2012 the U.S. Department of Commerce stated that “the average hourly wage for a manufacturing job was $29.75 an hour”. This wage is after benefits have been taken out, but it’s still a decent wage. Because there are many different jobs in the industry, advancement opportunities are abundant. However, employees will need to stay up to date and informed on the latest technologies.