For Immediate Release: January 10, 2025
Washington, D.C. — U.S. factories lost 13,000 jobs in December, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.
“This was not the factory jobs outcome we had hoped for in 2024. The sector lost 13,000 jobs in December and shed nearly 100,000 jobs over the past year,” Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul said. “There’s clearly a disconnect between the overall employment trajectory — more than 2 million jobs added in 2024 — and where manufacturing sits right now.”
Factory employment has been largely depressed over the past year, with a year-to-date loss of 87,000 jobs.
“Some factors are clearly putting a ceiling on factory jobs,” Paul said. “Borrowing costs are still too high, even though they are starting to come down. Our trade imbalance in goods is still staggering — around $1 trillion. And the career and technical education pathway to skilled manufacturing jobs is still underdeveloped. We have a lot of work to do in the year ahead. While strategic tariffs are part of the solution, there’s a lot more training and industrial policy that will need to be put into place.”
Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul is available for interview.
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