Lightcast x Manufacturing
Manufacturing at a a crossroads. The labor shortages are not temporary—they are the new operating environment, globally. By embracing a multi-pronged, future-ready approach to workforce planning, organizations can mitigate risk, improve competitiveness, and ensure the work gets done—not just today, but in the years ahead.
Are You Prepared for a Vanishing Manufacturing Workforce?
83% of manufacturers say that attracting and retaining a quality workforce is their top challenge.
Developing the domestic labor pool builds resilience, supports local economies, and fosters long-term retention. However, the pipeline for manufacturing workers is constrained, and failing to build the local workforce has lasting effects.
A Global View of Manufacturing
Using the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy as a foundation, we identified trends in Advanced Manufacturing Research & Development across ten countries. Using our truly global taxonomy enables us to glean a wealth of international insights about this field.
Manfacturing articles
The States Where Manufacturing Matters Most
September 12, 2025
US Manufacturing Has Problems Tariffs Can’t Solve
May 15, 2025
Motor City Renaissance
October 14, 2024
Labor Shortage Risks Aren't a Prediction, They Are an Inevitability
April 11, 2025
The Highest Welder Salaries In the US
September 5, 2025
Three Strategies to Prepare Your Semiconductor Workforce
March 7, 2023
Assembling a Future-Ready Manufacturing Workforce
The manufacturing industry faces substantial pressures to businesses’ operational ability and market demand delivery. Workers are in critical shortage, the skills gap is widening in advanced technologies—especially as robotics, nanotechnologies, and biotechnology advance—and specialized talent is in high demand.
Manufacturing leadership must invest in upskilling, attracting younger talent, acquiring skills-adjacent tech workers, and leveraging automation and automation-skilled employees.
Why Factories Are Having Trouble Filling Nearly 400,000 Open Jobs
The pool of blue-collar workers who are able and willing to perform tasks on a factory floor in the United States is shrinking. As baby boomers retire, few young people are lining up to take their place, as reported by the New York Times.
But the scarcity of skilled blue-collar workers remains a long-term problem, according to our Principal Economist, Ron Hetrick
“We spent three generations telling everybody that if they didn’t go to college, they are a loser,” he said. “Now we are paying for it. We still need people to use their hands.”
Annette Vickers on how ARM Institute Uses Lightcast Data to Plot the Future of Manufacturing Jobs
Rebuilding the US Semiconductor Workforce
As the world becomes increasingly interconnected and new technologies are adopted, semiconductors have become indispensable in day-to-day life, and ensuring a robust and reliable supply has never been more important. Manufacturing semiconductors in the United States helps protect national security and also reduces the risk of supply-chain delays.
Research from Lightcast explores the details of this emerging demand and shows how to take advantage of this crucial moment.
