#739 – 89% of Small Manufacturers Can’t Fill Job Openings
Posted on | The Agurban
Filling manufacturing jobs continues to be a problem, even for the smaller manufacturers.
89% of Small Manufacturers Can’t Fill Job Openings
IndustryWeek | May 31, 2019
An overwhelming majority (98.6%) of American manufacturing companies are small businesses, and 75.3% of those businesses have fewer than 20 employees, according to new data released on May 23 by SCORE, mentors to America’s small businesses.
Last year, manufacturing businesses generated 11.6% of the U.S. economic output and employed 8.5% of the U.S. workforce, but 89% of manufacturers report that they cannot fill all job openings. The reasons given for not filling the positions were:
- Shifting skill sets due to advancing technologies;
- Misperceptions of manufacturing jobs;
- Retirement of baby boomers.
“Manufacturing businesses drive the U.S. economy,” said SCORE CEO Ken Yancey. “They might be factories or bakeries, and they might utilize machine power or hand-make their products, but what they have in common is that the vast majority of manufacturers are small business owners.”