The Technical Skills Gap Report

What is the manufacturing skills gap?

The manufacturing skills gap is the growing distance between the number of jobs requiring advanced technical, digital, or automation-related competency, and the number of available workers qualified to fill them. It's a different problem than a pure labor shortage. There can be plenty of applicants for an open manufacturing role and still be a skills gap, since the mismatch centers on capability rather than headcount.

How many manufacturing jobs will go unfilled by 2033?

Manufacturing could need 3.8 million new workers between 2024 and 2033, and up to 1.9 million of those jobs could go unfilled if the skills and applicant gaps aren't addressed, according to a 2024 study from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.  

Why is there a labor shortage in manufacturing?

Deloitte's 2026 Manufacturing Industry Outlook still projects that 81% of task hours in the sector will be performed by people, even as automation investment accelerates, and more than a third of manufacturing executives cite equipping workers with the skills to run smart manufacturing operations as their top concern. Automation is reshaping the specific skills the work requires while overall headcount needs stay largely intact.  

What skills are manufacturers actually struggling to find?

Demand for simulation and simulation software skills has jumped 75% over the past five years, concentrated in technology-enabled production and testing roles, according to Deloitte and MI's analysis of job posting data. Adjacent categories seeing similar growth include manufacturing automation and robotics maintenance, data and analytics fluency for production environments, and digital twin literacy. Manufacturing engineer roles that bridge equipment, software, and data are among the hardest to fill on this list.

How can manufacturers close the workforce readiness gap?

Three moves separate manufacturers making progress on this gap from the ones still chasing it, and together they form the core of a sound manufacturing workforce development strategy:

• Assess where the gap actually sits, by role, by shift, by facility, before deciding what to do about it

• Develop the technical capability already inside the organization through training and career pathing, one of the most direct ways to reduce turnover

• Recruit for the capability that can't be built internally on the timeline growth requires, which is often the fastest route to finding skilled talent for a hard-to-fill role

Where to go for the full picture

This post covers the headline data. The full picture, including how work/life balance overtook salary as manufacturing workers' top job benefit in 2026, what's actually driving retention by wage band, and documented examples of manufacturers using the assess, develop, and recruit framework in practice, is in MAU's complete Technical Skills Gap Report.

For manufacturers weighing whether to handle a hard-to-fill role internally or bring in outside help, MAU Professional's manufacturing recruiters offer executive search, specialized technical recruiting, and custom workforce solutions built specifically for manufacturing employers, an option worth considering alongside a traditional staffing agency or employment agency when the role in question calls for validated technical expertise.

Get the full Technical Skills Gap Report

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