The latest jobs numbers showed an unexpected increase of 228,000 jobs, defying expectations of a decrease. The unemployment rate remained flat at 4.2%, despite being rounded from 4.14% in February to 4.15% in March.
However, the new jobs’ locations are where the story gets interesting. The biggest increases were in healthcare (54,000), social assistance (24,000), retail trade (24,000), and transportation and warehousing (23,000). Manufacturing saw a rise of roughly 1,000 month-over-month.
The myth that manufacturing disappeared due to globalization is debunked by data. Measured by production, the US makes and builds things at historically high levels. The types of manufactured goods have evolved to include more sophisticated products, allowing for higher prices and more expensive labor.
Companies in the US did keep manufacturing jobs in-house, but not as many as before. Automation and AI are used in design and production tools. Despite this, the number of manufacturing jobs remains far below its peak.
Periodic stories about advanced manufacturing jobs being open often exaggerate their availability. These positions typically require additional training and a willingness to do complex work. The graph showing existing manufacturing jobs and open positions shows that open positions are tiny compared to existing ones, with stability except during the pandemic recession.
Re-shoring manufacturing back to the US would take time to set up and make operational new factories. Even if tariffs were eliminated, it’s unlikely that new factories would remain economically viable in the near future.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2025/04/04/here-is-why-trumps-tariff-strategy-wont-return-manufacturing-jobs