Manufacturers accounted for 11.39% of the economy’s total output in 2018, as plants across the country created more than $2.3 billion in product output for a wide range of industries and consumers, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Despite offering workers an average annual compensation of $84,832 in 2017, manufacturers struggle to fill positions. A 2021 study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute (MI) forecasts that 2.1 million manufacturing positions will go unfulfilled by 2030. These empty positions could cost the nation about $1 trillion in GDP.