The U.S. is losing thousands of manufacturing jobs, analysis finds

Source: CBS News

Updated on: September 9, 2025 / 1:49 PM EDT


Manufacturers in the U.S. are cutting thousands of jobs even as President Trump pushes economic policies that he says will revitalize the industry. Employers shed 12,000 manufacturing jobs in August, while payrolls in the sector have shrunk by 42,000 since April, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP) that draws on government labor data.

The nonpartisan policy institute attributes that decline to the Trump administration's steep new tariffs; hardline stance on immigration; and the Republican-backed "big, beautiful bill," a tax and spending package enacted by Mr. Trump in July that CAP says hurts renewable energy companies by phasing out certain tax credits.

For all of 2025, manufacturing employment in the U.S. has sunk by a total of 33,000 jobs, according to Labor Department figures. Most of those job losses have been among companies that make durable goods, such as cars, household appliances and electronics. The drop comes as hiring overall has slowed sharply in recent months, with employers adding only 22,000 jobs in August, well below forecasts.

The number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. has declined for the past six decades, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. In 1960, manufacturing represented about 34% of total employment, while the number of jobs in the sector peaked in 1970 at 19.5 million. As of August this year, 12.7 million Americans were employed in manufacturing, while the industry lost 87,000 jobs in 2024, data shows.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jobs-manufacturing-trump-tariffs-economy/