Is there still a manufacturing labor shortage in 2026?

Yes, though it is less acute and more concentrated than a few years ago. U.S. manufacturers had 522,000 job openings in August 2026, up from 416,000 a year earlier, and NAM members reported an average of 4.25% of jobs unfilled in Q2. But workforce now ranks behind raw material costs as manufacturers' top concern, and the increase in openings is concentrated in durable goods.

Why are manufacturing jobs going unfilled?

National data doesn't identify one cause. For individual employers, common explanations include too few qualified applicants, screening requirements that are stricter than the job needs, offers that don't compete on pay or schedule, slow hiring processes, and limited training capacity. Cost pressure also plays a role: in NAM's Q2 2026 survey, 14.2% of manufacturers that responded to rising healthcare costs slowed hiring or left openings unfilled.

Which manufacturing jobs are entry-level?

Assembly is the main entry point. BLS lists a high school diploma, no prior work experience, and several months of on-the-job training as typical for assemblers and fabricators, who earned a median $21.85 an hour in May 2025. Advanced assembly in electrical, electronic, aircraft, and motor vehicle manufacturing usually requires postsecondary education or certifications.

Which part of manufacturing has the most job openings?

Durable goods. Durable goods manufacturers, which make products such as machinery, vehicles, metal products, and electronics, had 380,000 openings in August 2026, up from 252,000 a year earlier. Nondurable goods openings fell from 165,000 to 142,000 over the same period.

Do more job openings mean manufacturers can't find workers?

Not on their own. Openings show that employers are actively recruiting for available positions, not how hard those positions are to fill. An opening could be new, recently vacated, or part of a long search. To measure hiring difficulty, look at how long vacancies stay open, the number of qualified applicants, offer acceptance, and early departures.

What should manufacturers review before expanding recruiting?

Start with the job description, essential qualifications, pay, schedule, and hiring process, then confirm the facility has training and supervisory capacity for new hires. If candidates are applying and then withdrawing, fix that before spending more on applicant volume.

Is the Manufacturing Labor Shortage Over? The 2026 Data

Machinist in a hard hat and safety goggles operating a metalworking machine in a factory

October 13, 2026

Is the Manufacturing Labor Shortage Over? What the 2026 Data Shows

While manufacturing job openings reached 522,000 in late 2026 – up significantly from 416,000 a year prior – the labor shortage is shifting rather than disappearing. Rising raw material and operational costs have overtaken hiring as manufacturers’ top concern, while growth in unfilled roles is heavily concentrated in durable goods. Below is a complete breakdown of current BLS and NAM data, along with a 5-stage framework to optimize your plant’s recruitment pipeline.

Key facts

Manufacturers had 522,000 job openings in August 2026, up from 416,000 a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The openings rate was 4.0%, compared with 3.2%.
Durable goods account for the increase. Durable goods manufacturers had 380,000 openings, up from 252,000 a year earlier. Nondurable goods openings fell from 165,000 to 142,000.
Hiring also rose. Manufacturers made 332,000 hires in August 2026, compared with 299,000 in August 2025.
Workforce has slipped down manufacturers’ list of worries. In the National Association of Manufacturers’ (NAM) Q3 2026 survey, 54.9% cited attracting and retaining talent as a primary challenge, according to NAM’s Facts About Manufacturing. Raw material costs ranked first for the second straight quarter.
Unfilled positions persist. In NAM’s Q2 2026 survey, manufacturers reported an average of 4.25% of their jobs unfilled.

The manufacturing labor shortage is not over, but it has changed shape. Manufacturers now worry more about costs than about hiring, yet their job openings sit well above last year’s level. The growth is concentrated in durable goods, the segment that makes machinery, vehicles, metal products, and electronics.

For a plant manager, the national picture is only a starting point. A factory recruiting new assemblers faces a different problem from one searching for experienced technicians. Even within one facility, one shift may attract applicants while another loses candidates before their first day.

Ahead, this covers what the latest federal and industry data shows, which manufacturing jobs are open to entry-level workers, and how to find where your own hiring process is breaking down.

Manufacturers stopped ranking hiring first. The openings didn’t stop.

Three years ago, workforce was manufacturers’ top concern. In NAM’s Q3 2023 survey, 72.1% cited attracting and retaining a quality workforce as a primary challenge, more than any other issue.

By the second quarter of 2026, that share had fallen to 46.95%. Workforce ranked behind raw material costs (83.1%), trade uncertainties (71.8%), healthcare costs (69.95%), transportation and logistics costs (61.0%), and supply chain challenges (50.2%). In the third quarter, it rose back to 54.9%.

Costs now dominate. In NAM’s Q3 2026 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey, conducted August 11-27 among 220 manufacturers, increased raw material costs were the top business challenge for the second consecutive quarter, followed by rising healthcare costs and trade uncertainties.

Manufacturers are still planning to grow. In the same survey, 78.9% of respondents were somewhat or very positive about their company’s outlook. They expect sales to rise 4.3% over the next 12 months and capital investment to rise 2.6%, NAM’s strongest investment forecast in four years.

Cost pressure and hiring are connected

A change in manufacturers’ top concerns is not proof that staffing problems have disappeared. In some cases, cost pressure is the reason positions stay open.

In NAM’s Q2 survey, manufacturers that had made changes because of rising healthcare costs were asked what they did. Among them, 14.2% slowed hiring, left job openings unfilled, or made workforce reductions, and 21.6% pared back wage increases or bonuses.

The same survey asked what share of jobs remained unfilled. Nearly three-quarters of manufacturers (74.65%) said less than 5%, while 17.37% reported 5% to 10%, 4.69% reported 10% to 15%, and 3.29% reported more than 15%.

For an employer planning its workforce, cost concerns and hiring needs exist side by side. A company may expect more orders while still deciding how much it can commit to wages, benefits, equipment, and training. A confident sales outlook and the staff to deliver on it answer different questions.

Manufacturing openings and hires: what the latest data shows

Manufacturing openings in August 2026 were well above their year-earlier level, and hiring rose as well. BLS described job openings as little changed in all industries between July and August, so the dip from July’s 576,000 should not be read as a meaningful decline.

Manufacturing measure, seasonally adjusted	Aug. 2025	July 2026	Aug. 2026
Job openings, all manufacturing	416,000	576,000	522,000
Job openings rate	3.2%	4.4%	4.0%
Job openings, durable goods	252,000	423,000	380,000
Job openings, nondurable goods	165,000	153,000	142,000
Hires, all manufacturing	299,000	293,000	332,000
Hires rate	2.4%	2.3%	2.6%

Source: BLS, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, Tables A, 1, and 2, released September 29, 2026. August 2026 data are preliminary.

Durable goods drive the demand

The year-over-year increase in openings comes from durable goods. That segment’s openings rate reached 4.6% in August, up from 3.1% a year earlier, after reaching 5.1% in July. Nondurable goods, which include food, chemicals, and plastics, moved the other way: their openings rate fell from 3.3% to 2.9%.

For employers, this matters more than the industry total. A metal fabricator or machinery maker is recruiting in a busier market than a food processor, even though both fall under “manufacturing.”

Retention is shifting too

The manufacturing quits rate was 1.6% in August 2026, up from 1.3% a year earlier, according to BLS JOLTS Table 4. Quits in nondurable goods manufacturing rose by 28,000 in August alone, one of only two industries where BLS flagged a significant increase.

Manufacturing still has one of the lower quits rates among private industries. But a rising rate means more positions reopening after they have been filled, which adds to recruiting demand.

Why openings and hires don’t measure the same thing

BLS counts job openings on the last business day of the month. Hires cover everyone added to the payroll during the entire month.

Under the JOLTS definitions, a job counts as open only if a specific position exists, the work could start within 30 days, and the employer is actively recruiting from outside the establishment. These are measures of labor demand and hiring activity, not a count of jobs employers have given up trying to fill.

Subtracting monthly hires from month-end openings does not produce a valid estimate of unfilled jobs. The two measures cover different periods and do not track the same positions. A business could hire someone early in the month and post a different opening later; both would appear in the data without representing a failed search.

The data also cannot show how long a particular vacancy has been open or why a candidate declined an offer. Those answers have to come from an employer’s own hiring records.

Entry-level manufacturing jobs: what the BLS data shows

Manufacturing includes jobs with very different duties, equipment, and qualifications. Treating the whole industry as one entry-level labor market hides where the real hiring problem sits.

Assembly is the clearest entry point. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook lists a high school diploma or equivalent, no related work experience, and moderate-term on-the-job training as typical requirements for assemblers and fabricators. Workers usually receive several months of training, sometimes including employer-sponsored technical instruction.

Advanced assembly is different. Workers in electrical, electronic, aircraft, and motor vehicle products manufacturing typically need postsecondary education, and aerospace and defense employers often require soldering certifications.

The occupation is large and steadily hiring:

Pay: The median wage for assemblers and fabricators was $45,450 a year, or $21.85 an hour, in May 2025. The lowest 10% earned less than $34,020 and the highest 10% more than $67,440.
Size: Assemblers and fabricators held about 1.8 million jobs in 2025.
Openings: BLS projects about 177,500 openings each year through 2035, mostly to replace workers who change occupations or retire, even though overall employment is expected to grow just 1%.
Growth pockets: Employment of electrical, electronic, and electromechanical assemblers is projected to grow 5%, driven by industries such as EV batteries, energy storage, and semiconductors.
Staffing agencies: Temporary help services employ 9% of assemblers and fabricators, where the median wage was $36,860.

Infographic of the 2026 manufacturing labor shortage: 522,000 job openings and 332,000 hires in August 2026, with raw material costs ranked ahead of attracting and retaining talent in NAM's Q3 2026 survey

Define the job by what it requires

A job title alone doesn’t tell you whether someone without factory experience can do the work after training. Before posting a position, identify which abilities a candidate needs on day one and which you are prepared to teach: reading instructions, using specific tools, documenting work, or completing quality checks.

Give every experience requirement a clear purpose. If prior factory experience is mandatory, what responsibility makes it necessary? If you will teach the production process anyway, could a candidate with reliable work habits from a warehouse or kitchen qualify? Keep legitimate safety and technical requirements, and drop preferences that don’t reflect the work.

Where manufacturing hiring breaks down: a five-stage check

National data can’t name one universal cause of unfilled manufacturing jobs. Your own records can. Work through the hiring process stage by stage, measure each one, and compare it with a national benchmark where one exists.

1. Too few qualified applicants

What to measure: qualified applications per opening, and how long each position stays open.

Benchmark: NAM members reported an average of 4.25% of jobs unfilled in Q2 2026. To compare, divide your open positions by your total positions.

What to try: A posting that says “general production duties” gives candidates little to go on. Spell out the work area, shift, physical demands, training, and pay. Then widen your channels: local workforce boards, technical schools, employee referrals, and temp-to-hire arrangements, which are already a common route into assembly work.

2. Applicants screened out

What to measure: the reasons applications are rejected, reviewed every quarter.

What to try: Check whether each screening criterion matches an essential duty. For a trainable role, give applicants a fair way to show relevant abilities, such as following procedures or learning a defined task, even if they lack the preferred job title.

3. Offers declined

What to measure: your offer acceptance rate, and the reasons candidates give for declining.

Benchmark: Production and nonsupervisory manufacturing workers averaged $30.37 an hour in August 2026, up 4.4% from a year earlier, according to NAM. The BLS median for assemblers and fabricators was $21.85 an hour in May 2025, and manufacturers in NAM’s Q2 survey expected wages to rise 2.9% over the next year. These figures measure different groups, so compare your offer with local data for the specific role.

What to try: Make the schedule, starting pay, reporting location, and next steps explicit in every offer. Ask candidates who decline why, and record answers without assuming every decline has the same cause.

4. Slow starts and no-shows

What to measure: days from accepted offer to first shift, and how many accepted candidates never start.

What to try: Map each step between application and start date, and name who owns it. If an application waits for review or an accepted offer gets no follow-up, ask whether the delay serves a purpose.

Prepare training before the new hire arrives. Assembly training usually runs several months, so decide who will teach the job and whether they have time. A practical plan names the tasks introduced first, the procedures that must be understood, and the point at which the employee works independently. Production schedules should not count a new hire as full capacity until that point.

5. Early departures

What to measure: your monthly quits rate, calculated the way BLS does it: quits during the month divided by employment, times 100. Break departures down by role, shift, supervisor, and length of service.

Benchmark: the manufacturing quits rate was 1.6% in August 2026. For hiring volume, the manufacturing hires rate was 2.6%.

What to try: If people leave soon after starting, compare what they were told with what they experienced. Did the schedule match the offer? Was training available as planned? If experienced employees are leaving, look instead at workload, supervision, pay, and advancement. Talk with employees who stay as well as those who leave, and end every review with one action and a way to check whether it worked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there still a manufacturing labor shortage in 2026?
Yes, though it is less acute and more concentrated than a few years ago. U.S. manufacturers had 522,000 job openings in August 2026, up from 416,000 a year earlier, and NAM members reported an average of 4.25% of jobs unfilled in Q2. But workforce now ranks behind raw material costs as manufacturers’ top concern, and the increase in openings is concentrated in durable goods.
Why are manufacturing jobs going unfilled?
National data doesn’t identify one cause. For individual employers, common explanations include too few qualified applicants, screening requirements that are stricter than the job needs, offers that don’t compete on pay or schedule, slow hiring processes, and limited training capacity. Cost pressure also plays a role: in NAM’s Q2 2026 survey, 14.2% of manufacturers that responded to rising healthcare costs slowed hiring or left openings unfilled.
Which manufacturing jobs are entry-level?
Assembly is the main entry point. BLS lists a high school diploma, no prior work experience, and several months of on-the-job training as typical for assemblers and fabricators, who earned a median $21.85 an hour in May 2025. Advanced assembly in electrical, electronic, aircraft, and motor vehicle manufacturing usually requires postsecondary education or certifications.
Which part of manufacturing has the most job openings?
Durable goods. Durable goods manufacturers, which make products such as machinery, vehicles, metal products, and electronics, had 380,000 openings in August 2026, up from 252,000 a year earlier. Nondurable goods openings fell from 165,000 to 142,000 over the same period.
Do more job openings mean manufacturers can’t find workers?
Not on their own. Openings show that employers are actively recruiting for available positions, not how hard those positions are to fill. An opening could be new, recently vacated, or part of a long search. To measure hiring difficulty, look at how long vacancies stay open, the number of qualified applicants, offer acceptance, and early departures.
What should manufacturers review before expanding recruiting?
Start with the job description, essential qualifications, pay, schedule, and hiring process, then confirm the facility has training and supervisory capacity for new hires. If candidates are applying and then withdrawing, fix that before spending more on applicant volume.

What this means for employers

The current market calls for a position-by-position workforce plan. Start with the roles that most directly affect production, and avoid grouping every unfilled job under one explanation.

If you’re in durable goods, assume you’re recruiting in a tighter market than last year, and budget time and pay accordingly. If you’re in nondurable goods, watch retention: quits in that segment are rising even as openings fall.

For near-term hiring, run the five-stage check above and fix the stage where candidates drop out. Make essential qualifications explicit, explain the schedule, assign ownership of candidate follow-up, and prepare training before the employee starts.

For recurring positions, build recruiting relationships that fit the work. Local workforce boards, technical schools, employee referrals, and staffing partners can be judged by the candidates they deliver and how long those hires stay. For suitable permanent positions, employment-based third-preference (EB-3) sponsorship is another option alongside local recruiting, training partnerships, and retention improvements; it requires a separate assessment of the role, the applicable requirements, and the employer’s timeline.

Give the plan a review date and an owner. Compare applications, accepted offers, starts, and departures before and after each change, and use those results to decide what to adjust next. The national data supplies context; your own records should decide which problem to solve first.