America wants to make more things here at home. But there is a basic constraint we do not talk about enough: A factory is only as useful as the people who know how to run it.
Manufacturing employed more than 12.6 million Americans in August, including more than 571,000 in Illinois. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects nearly 870,000 openings in production occupations each year over the coming decade, largely as workers retire or leave those jobs. And if U.S. factories returned to their highest utilization rates of the last decade and employment rose proportionally, McKinsey estimates manufacturers would need about 1.4 million additional workers.
That is not an argument against bringing manufacturing back. It is an argument for getting serious about the workforce needed to make it happen.
Before I joined Congress, I studied mechanical engineering and ran small businesses developing technology in national security and renewable energy. That experience taught me something our economic policy too often forgets: We treat a new machine, software or factory as an investment, while too often treating the worker who can operate and improve that technology simply as a cost.
We need to change that in three ways.
First, we need to train people for the jobs that actually exist.
Georgetown University researchers estimate an annual shortage of nearly 712,000 certificates and associate degrees aligned with high-paying middle-skill occupations through at least 2032, including more than 360,000 in blue-collar fields. Workers in the occupations they studied earn a median of $83,300 by midcareer.
But producing more credentials is not enough. In half of American labor markets, Georgetown found that at least half of middle-skill credentials would need to be in different fields to match projected demand. We have a training shortage, but we also have a matching problem.
That is why, during my first term in Congress, Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and I introduced the bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which became law in 2018 and strengthened connections between career education and in-demand jobs.
We can see that approach in Illinois. Elgin Community College opened a new Manufacturing and Technology Center for students training in advanced manufacturing, automation, robotics, welding and other technical fields. I helped secure $936,000 for the school’s mechatronics and automation programs and another $2 million for advanced manufacturing equipment, helping students train on industry-standard technology for jobs employers actually need to fill.
Second, when businesses invest in technology, they need to invest in workers too.
Automation, robotics and artificial intelligence can make American factories more productive, but they also change the skills workers need. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and I introduced the Investing in American Workers Act to provide a 20% tax credit for increases in qualifying worker-training expenses, including apprenticeships, community college programs and career and technical education.
If we recognize the value of upgrading the machine, we should recognize the value of upgrading the worker’s skills alongside it.
Third, we need to judge people by what they can actually do.
Millions of Americans gain valuable skills through community colleges, apprenticeships, military service or years on the job. Too many still hit the paper ceiling because employers require a four-year degree even when it is not necessary to do the work.
That matters especially in manufacturing, where technical ability, training and experience can matter more than whether a worker has a bachelor’s degree.
Companies increasingly announce moves toward skills-based hiring, but changing a job posting is easier than changing who actually gets hired. Research from Harvard Business School and the Burning Glass Institute found that the additional opportunities created by such policies amounted to fewer than 1 in 700 hires at the companies they studied.
I was also proud to co-author the bipartisan Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act, which is establishing a new standard requiring federal agencies to justify degree requirements for covered contractor positions instead of using them by default.
A four-year degree remains the right path for millions of Americans and many careers. But it is not the only path to a good job, and it should not substitute for determining whether someone has the skills to do the work.
We need people trained for the jobs we are creating, businesses that keep investing in their skills and hiring systems that recognize what workers can actually do.
We know how to invest in machines. If America wants a manufacturing comeback, we need to get just as serious about investing in the people who make them productive.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, serves Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, which includes the northwest suburbs.