Access our Labor Market & Skills for Manufacturing Research Report

This new report is a supplemental asset to our wider Future of Work research paper released publicly in 2024.

May 6, 2025 – The ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute is proud to issue its latest Future of Work supplemental report: our Labor Market & Skills Report for Manufacturing created in in partnership with Deloitte Consulting and Valdos Consulting. In 2024, the ARM Institute set out alongside Deloitte Consulting and Valdos Consulting to assess the current workforce landscape within the U.S., understand the current level of skills sets by region, by technology, by skill level and by generational cohort. This research was supported by Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program.

As manufacturers integrate more advanced manufacturing solutions into their processes, technological advancements and their associated career pathways are outpacing the skill attainment of the manufacturing workforce. This is causing the skills profile of the manufacturing workforce to undergo a dramatic shift, with substantial changes due to the increased use of robotics and automation.

The need for skilled advanced manufacturing employees has never been greater. To ensure the continued competitiveness and readiness of this sector, it is imperative to understand the dynamics of the workforce, anticipate future skill requirements, and strategize training initiatives accordingly.

The findings in this research report provide actionable insights for employers across manufacturing. In light of the historic manufacturing workforce shortage and as our nation looks to re-shore manufacturing and rebuild the military by revitalizing the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), efforts to prepare the U.S. manufacturing workforce for the changes necessitated by the use of robotics, AI, and other advanced technologies have never been more important.

To ensure alignment with the key focus areas of the Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MII), the data in our report is focused on the following areas:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Robotics
• Additive Manufacturing
• Bioengineering
• Advanced Computing
• Semiconductor Processing
• Materials Engineering
• Machining and Industrial Engineering
• Non-Destructive Testing
• Welding

Select Findings from Our Report

• The Great Lakes region leads the nation in total employment of current advanced manufacturing and related roles while the Southwest region is expected to see the most growth in number of roles over the next 10 years
• Across all regions, there is a skills gap for computer science educated workers in the advanced manufacturing and adjacent workforces, and an
  additional 530k software developers are projected to be needed by 2033
• New York, Texas, and Illinois led hiring for advanced manufacturing-related roles
• The U.S. has over 11.3 million advanced manufacturing and related jobs, reflecting a 10% increase over the past five years
• In 2024, Continuous Improvement became a highly sought-after skill, marking a significant shift from its absence in the top 10 skills in 2019
• In 2024, AI, Cloud, Natural language Processing, and Machine Learning (ML) saw an acceleration in demand
• Software roles, First-Line Supervisors, and Industrial Engineers remained the top 5 occupations in demand over the last 5 years

Download our Labor Market and Skills Report for Manufacturing for Free

More About the ARM Institute’s Future of Work Research Program

Our Labor Market & Skills Report for Manufacturing is part of our larger Future of Work research program that seeks to address how technologies such as robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the nature of work for US. manufacturers. This research aims to detail not only these changes, but also the lessons learned, best practices, and actionable steps for educators, employers, and labor unions to take to build a future-ready manufacturing workforce.

This effort started when the ARM Institute publicly released our 74 page Future of Work Research Report in June 2024. Leveraging existing research, interviews, and case studies from across the ARM Institute’s network, this study provides key insights on workforce issues and programs that are helping prepare workers for the changes that are already here and those that are on the horizon.

The ARM Institute regularly updates our Future of Work report through supplemental assets, including our Labor Market & Skills for Manufacturing Research Report detailed on this page.

Access our full Future of Work Report