Since 2008 and the Great Recession, the United States has been a global leader in job growth—thanks, in large part, to manufacturing. And the U.S. is still the second largest exporter of manufactured goods in the world, ahead of South Korea, France, and even Germany. Manufacturing continues to fuel the success of the United States economy and its workers.

 

 

While the sum total benefits of a strong manufacturing industry can be difficult to fully calculate and quantify, taken individually, many of them are extraordinarily simple and straightforward: for example, a robust manufacturing industry promotes a strong middle class.

 

According to recent data, the average salary for a manufacturing job is well over $70,000 including benefits. The respectable salary expectations may be why so many people go into manufacturing jobs in the first place—making up nearly ten percent of the workforce, in fact. Manufacturing jobs are also some of the most stable and reliable in the country. Without productive, well-paying jobs in manufacturing, our country and communities would be entirely different places. Much of the prosperity we enjoy comes to us because of manufacturing.

 

 

But the manufacturing industry isn’t just good for the people who work in it, it’s good for everyone, due to its high multiplier effect. A multiplier effect is what happens when you spend money on a particular project and receive, in return, more money than was initially spent on it. Think of it like an investment but one that benefits the entire economy.

 

A simple example might be a company that decides to build a new mitten factory. The company spends the money. The factory opens up. The people working inside it are getting paid to sew mittens, now and then an occasional scarf and muffler. But soon it’s not just the mitten-makers who are raking it in. It’s the entire community—because those mitten makers have money to spend.

 

This is the multiplier effect, and economists agree that manufacturing’s multiplier effect is higher than any other industries. Every year, roughly $2.2 trillion in wealth gets pumped into the U.S. economy as a result of investments in U.S. manufacturing—money that wouldn’t otherwise exist. This is money that American families spend on a daily and weekly basis to take care of their basic needs, which of course benefits the economy.

 

When you work in manufacturing, you can feel confident that the work you are doing is, in a very real way, making the community around you more prosperous.

 

 

Jobs in manufacturing are exciting. Put aside for a moment the monetary and economic benefits of manufacturing and consider some of its more technological ones. The manufacturing industry promotes efficiency, right? Faster and more productive ways of doing things.

 

This is a value that keeps manufacturers in business, of course. It’s also a value that inspires and even demands innovation. In other words, invention!

 

When you work in manufacturing, you’re surrounded by this innovation on a daily basis. Your place of employment is often times a testing ground for the latest tech breakthrough. This gives you something to talk about when you’re with your friends and families–but it also makes your job more interesting!