How To Become A Manufacturing Worker: What It Is and Career Path

What is a manufacturing worker and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a manufacturing worker. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.9 an hour? That's $31,001 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 358,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreManufacturing WorkerUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $31,001

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.9

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.85%

Asian 6.01%

Black or African American 10.53%

Hispanic or Latino 17.60%

Unknown 3.79%

White 61.22%

Gender

female 32.15%

male 67.85%

Age - 35

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 35

Stress level

4.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a manufacturing worker

Explore manufacturing worker education requirements

Most common manufacturing worker degrees

High School Diploma

44.7 %

Bachelor's

20.6 %

Associate

18.3 %

Start to develop specific manufacturing worker skills

Skills	Percentages
Quality Checks	46.44%
Pallets	13.78%
GMP	8.74%
Machine Operators	7.11%
Safety Guidelines	5.65%

Complete relevant manufacturing worker training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New manufacturing workers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a manufacturing worker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real manufacturing worker resumes.

Research manufacturing worker duties and responsibilities

Prepare material to load into furnaces including cleaning, crushing-machines, shovels, rakes, or sprayers.
Scrape accumulations of metal oxides from floors, molds, and crucibles, and sift and store them for reclamation.
Incorporate forklift and bobcat use.
Ready and break down crucibles before and after pours.

Prepare your manufacturing worker resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your manufacturing worker resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a manufacturing worker resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable manufacturing worker resume templates

Build a professional manufacturing worker resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your manufacturing worker resume.