Back in April, President Donald Trump touted his aggressive tariff policy as a catalyst for the reshoring of manufacturing jobs. Eight months later, reshoring progress is nowhere to be seen.
The jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released last week found that while nonfarm payrolls increased by 119,000, there were 6,000 fewer manufacturing jobs, adding to the tally of 59,000 lost factory jobs since Trump’s April vows to ignite domestic manufacturing. The Labor Bureau’s data is consistent with the Institute for Supply Management November report, which indicated an eighth consecutive month of contracting manufacturing jobs.
“The US is losing blue-collar jobs for the first time since the pandemic…as manufacturing industries lose jobs at a rapid pace while growth in construction & transportation has nearly zeroed out,” economic commentator Joseph Politano noted in a LinkedIn post last week.
In a frozen white-collar job market, blue-collar trade and factory jobs have been seen as a safe haven for not just Gen Z, but antsy office workers more broadly. But fewer manufacturing jobs mean job prospects in this low-fire, low-hire market may be bleaker than even some workers anticipated.
