Manufacturing laborers work in factories or other production sites, generally taking care of one specific task only. They work the assembly line or operate production machinery, setting up, starting, and stopping equipment. They might measure, mix, and feed materials into the machines and monitor them to make sure the products meet quality demands. Assembling parts of products may be part of the job as well.
Working in this position, you will be responsible for cleaning and maintaining machinery as well. You will make sure your working area is clean and up to speed with safety regulations. You will have to remove faulty products from the production line, and you might also be responsible for recording various production data used later on for quality reports.
You can take on this role with a high school diploma, as this is an entry-level job, and training is generally provided once you get hired. You will need physical stamina and the ability to endure repetitive tasks for long hours, typically working in rotating shifts. You can expect to make around $13.41 per hour in this position.
Manufacturing Labour Overview
Manufacturing Labour Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a manufacturing labour. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.15 an hour? That's $27,358 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 156,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Manufacturing Labour Do
There are certain skills that many manufacturing labours have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed listening skills, physical strength and customer-service skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a manufacturing labour, we found that a lot of resumes listed 37.3% of manufacturing labours included hand tools, while 18.5% of resumes included tape measure, and 11.1% of resumes included manual labor. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the manufacturing labour job title. But what industry to start with? Most manufacturing labours actually find jobs in the manufacturing and retail industries.
How To Become a Manufacturing Labour
If you're interested in becoming a manufacturing labour, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 14.0% of manufacturing labours have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.0% of manufacturing labours have master's degrees. Even though some manufacturing labours have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a manufacturing labour. When we researched the most common majors for a manufacturing labour, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on manufacturing labour resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a manufacturing labour. In fact, many manufacturing labour jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many manufacturing labours also have previous career experience in roles such as machine operator or customer service representative.
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Manufacturing Labour Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of forklift operator you might progress to a role such as technician eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title operations manager.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Manufacturing Labour
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Spherion Manufacturing Labors Manufacturing Labors | Spherion Spherion | 12/03/2020 12/03/2020 | $22,95712/03/2020 $22,957 |
Westrock Company Manufacturing Laborer Manufacturing Laborer | Westrock Company Westrock Company | 11/09/2020 11/09/2020 | $31,30511/09/2020 $31,305 |
Adecco Staffing Manufacturing Laborer Manufacturing Laborer | Adecco Staffing Adecco Staffing | 10/24/2020 10/24/2020 | $34,79010/24/2020 $34,790 |
Manpowergroup Manufacturing Laborers Manufacturing Laborers | Manpowergroup Manpowergroup | 09/23/2020 09/23/2020 | $29,21809/23/2020 $29,218 |
Spherion Manufacturing Labors Manufacturing Labors | Spherion Spherion | 09/16/2020 09/16/2020 | $22,95709/16/2020 $22,957 |
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Top Skills For a Manufacturing Labour
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 37.3% of manufacturing labours listed hand tools on their resume, but soft skills such as listening skills and physical strength are important as well.
- Hand Tools, 37.3%
- Tape Measure, 18.5%
- Manual Labor, 11.1%
- Quality Checks, 8.8%
- Quality Standards, 3.6%
- Other Skills, 20.7% See All Manufacturing Labour Skills
Best States For a Manufacturing Labour
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a manufacturing labour. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Manufacturing labours make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $40,835. Whereas in North Dakota and Wisconsin, they would average $36,084 and $35,777, respectively. While manufacturing labours would only make an average of $32,768 in Minnesota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Wisconsin
$35,777
Avg. Salary
2. Iowa
$31,757
Avg. Salary
3. Minnesota
$32,768
Avg. Salary