The Recipe for a Manufacturing Boom Economy

How policymakers can amplify manufacturers’ success in 2023

BY JAY TIMMONS

THE TIRELESS, DEDICATED WORK manufacturers have done to lead the pandemic recovery and to grow our industry in the face of all sorts of challenges has delivered a manufacturing boom economy. One of the best indicators of this success is that manufacturers now employ more than 12.9 million people in the United States, which is the strongest level of job growth we’ve seen since 2008.

That’s worth celebrating, and we can attribute this growth to manufacturers’ solutions-focused approach toward everything we do. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has channeled that approach into our advocacy, leading a campaign for a policy agenda focused on manufacturing competitiveness. We traveled the country in 2022 promoting our “Competing to Win” policy roadmap, which lays out our industry’s solutions for problems like supply chain disruptions and slowdowns, ongoing workforce shortages, and for restoring economic confidence.

We saw major progress toward these goals last year. The CHIPS and Science Act, which the NAM helped shape and advocate at every stage of its progress from bill to law, gave a major boost to the domestic production of essential inputs, particularly semiconductors. This law will benefit every manufacturer in the U.S., strengthening our supply chains while helping us to compete with China and other countries. Speaking of supply chains, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act provided the first major reforms for our ports and shipping lanes in decades. And manufacturers’ advocacy helped secure the ratification of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which will make a major difference in the fight against climate change while creating jobs for the industry.

We can also measure our policy success in terms of what didn’t come to pass. Most notably, a massive NAM-led advocacy campaign helped strip tax hikes from the budget reconciliation bill, saving millions of dollars for manufacturing companies across the country.

Meanwhile, we continue leading a campaign to grow the workforce and to close the skills gap. The NAM and the Manufacturing Institute’s (MI) Creators Wanted campaign—entering its third year—is helping to introduce the exciting reality of modern manufacturing careers to hundreds of thousands of students and educators across the country. Our efforts have improved the positive perception of manufacturing among parents from 27 percent to 40 percent, which will yield dividends as more parents encourage their children to consider careers in manufacturing. And through events like MFG Day, when the MI partnered with manufacturers across the country for more than 600 events showcasing a day in the life of manufacturing teams, we’re broadening our reach to an audience of tens of millions across the country.

These are just some of the ingredients of our ongoing manufacturing boom. And as the new Congress begins its work, we’re going to keep up the drumbeat for policies that make us more competitive. When policymakers look for solutions for lingering challenges, we’ll provide the ideas they need to fix these problems now.

The tax code is an excellent place to start. Manufacturers know that the 2017 tax reforms were rocket fuel—not only for our industry and for our employees, but also for the whole economy. Now they should build on that success, rather than roll it back.

Strengthening our energy security must also be a top priority, especially given recent geopolitical turmoil. Manufacturers and households alike will benefit from policies that tap into the U.S.’s abundant domestic energy resources, and from policies that streamline the construction of new energy infrastructure.

Congress must also lay the groundwork for manufacturers to further invest in our workforce, given that our industry will need to fill more than 4 million jobs by the end of the decade, according to research from Deloitte and the MI. Part of that means, as the MI advocates, reforms to broaden access to apprenticeships, which help grow our pool of skilled talent. And while they’re at it, lawmakers must work to bring about long-overdue immigration reform. Our broken immigration system is both a humanitarian issue and a major obstacle in the way of our global competitiveness.

For these and many other issues, manufacturers have the solutions. The road ahead is promising, and we can count on our industry to keep investing in our communities, hiring and cultivating talent, innovating and improving the quality of life for everyone. And if policymakers listen to our ideas and take up our solutions, we can expect our industry and our economy to thrive—not just in 2023, but as part of the promise of a manufacturing decade in the years to come.

Jay Timmons is the president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers and the chairman of the board of the Manufacturing Institute.