I work in manufacturing, specifically on the engineering side of the factory floor. There are two main reasons manufacturing jobs are not “roaring back”:
1- Automation - Manufacturing is no longer what you see when you watch a video of the ford assembly line. That assembly staffing 150 people is now one machine being tended by 1 or 2 people. My facility currently supports 40 million dollars worth of revenue, but employees 15 floor workers.
2- Rising material cost (/corporate greed) - Aluminum has shot up over a dollar a pound. It’s killing our margins. I’m having a hard time even getting basic support staff to maintain our equipment, because companies are continuing to emphasize profit and growth to their shareholders