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Job outlook for plant general managers in the United States
Plant general manager job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected plant general manager job growth rate is 6% from 2018-2028.
About 189,200 new jobs for plant general managers are projected over the next decade.
Plant general manager salaries have increased 4% for plant general managers in the last 5 years.
There are over 24,092 plant general managers currently employed in the United States.
There are 281,004 active plant general manager job openings in the US.
The average plant general manager salary is $118,157.
Are plant general manager jobs in demand?
Plant general manager job and salary trends over time
Plant general manager jobs over time
Plant general manager job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24,092 | 0.01% |
| 2020 | 18,946 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 19,373 | 0.01% |
| 2018 | 18,481 | 0.01% |
| 2017 | 17,855 | 0.01% |
Average plant general manager salary over time
Plant general manager salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $118,157 | $56.81 | +2.8% |
| 2025 | $114,886 | $55.23 | --0.1% |
| 2024 | $115,057 | $55.32 | +0.5% |
| 2023 | $114,464 | $55.03 | +1.1% |
| 2022 | $113,210 | $54.43 | +1.6% |
Plant general manager jobs by state
Most common states for plant general managers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 554 | 80% |
| 2 | Delaware | 961,939 | 479 | 50% |
| 3 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 2,865 | 43% |
| 4 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 1,168 | 40% |
| 5 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 3,308 | 39% |
| 6 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 2,679 | 39% |
| 7 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 1,230 | 39% |
| 8 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 3,912 | 38% |
| 9 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 2,104 | 38% |
| 10 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 2,100 | 38% |
| 11 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 1,836 | 38% |
| 12 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 2,256 | 37% |
| 13 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 2,153 | 37% |
| 14 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 214 | 37% |
| 15 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 4,644 | 36% |
| 16 | Arkansas | 3,004,279 | 1,070 | 36% |
| 17 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 655 | 36% |
| 18 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 1,053 | 34% |
| 19 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 458 | 34% |
| 20 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 1,194 | 33% |
Most common cities for plant general managers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Binghamton | 2 | 4% | $139,800 |
| 2 | Fort Pierce | 2 | 4% | $68,995 |
| 3 | Saint Cloud | 1 | 2% | $70,184 |
| 4 | West Sacramento | 1 | 2% | $147,163 |
| 5 | Atlanta | 2 | 0% | $77,882 |
| 6 | Miami | 1 | 0% | $65,629 |
| 7 | Tampa | 1 | 0% | $70,382 |
Plant General Manager job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of plant general manager experts
Pennsylvania State University - Greater Allegheny
Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College - City University of New York
Farmingdale State College
The City College of New York
What general advice would you give to a Plant General Manager?
Dr. Kim Roberts: Business-related occupations offer attractive salaries and offer a variety of disciplines, such as accounting, contract management, cybersecurity, finance, human resources, logistics, marketing, management, operations, sales, and more. However, business careers are often demanding, requiring long work weeks and travel.
Skills
leadership
communication
innovation
adaptation
critical thinking
problem solving
emotional intelligence
empathy
teamwork
cultural competence
conflict management
ethics and social responsibility
What Plant General Manager skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Kim Roberts: Business professionals lead organizations by focused efforts that revolve around products/services, processes, and people. Business professionals work to ensure the firm's products and/or services meet customer expectations, with an eye toward an ever-changing market. They manage processes that produce or support the firm's products. This requires the ability to analyze data to make informed decisions, to drive continuous improvement, and to solve problems through critical thinking. Successful business professionals must also create climates that promote teamwork and foster collaboration.
What will help Plant General Managers increase their earning potential?
Dr. Kim Roberts: Now is a good time to enter business professions because of the projected growth of employment opportunities. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Overall employment in business and financial occupations is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations from 2022 to 2032." Furthermore, the growth of online learning and online degrees means a full-time job and family commitments are not roadblocks to earning a business degree.
Bernie Cerasaro
Assistant Teaching ProfessorPennsylvania State University - Greater Allegheny
Business Department
What skills stand out on Plant General Manager resumes?
Bernie Cerasaro: Skills employers would be looking for would be functional skills and interpersonal skills. Functional skills should stand out on a resume and be aligned to the business job in question. For example, if focused on marketing positions, marketing skills such as data analytics, market research, consumer behavior, global marketing, and professional selling skills would be areas for which employers would be looking. If the job market is looking for someone in accounting, then functional skills that would stand out would be intermediate financial accounting skills and courses on taxation and auditing. For those seeking positions in project management or supply chain management, skills that would stand out would encompass subject matter such as project management, portfolio management, operations planning and control, purchasing and materials management, and knowledge of ERP type systems and other business processes.
Skill sets can be enhanced via various types of certification. For example, those interested in accounting might pursue a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) license, which requires 150 credits. As most universities require 120 credits for a bachelor's degree in business, a CPA would require just an additional 30 credits, which students can start accumulating while still at college. Project management certification is also an opportunity to enhance the aforementioned skills and would certainly stand out on an applicant's resume. The Project Management Institute (PMI) promotes PMP certification, which validates that you are highly skilled in soft skills to lead project teams and have the required technical aspects of managing projects. Some universities are working with the PMI to have PMI-approved courses. Approved courses are used toward the PMP training hours required to sit for the exam. For example, Penn State University has received approval for two such courses, Portfolio Management and Organizations and Project Planning and Resource Management.
Due to the high rate of interaction with the global marketplace and the complexity of international business, managers are looking more closely at applicants who have some familiarity with global markets and international culture, such as applicants who may have study abroad experience, traveled internationally, speak a foreign language or have lived or worked in another country.
Dr. Mary Kern Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorZicklin School of Business at Baruch College - City University of New York
Narendra P. Loomba Department of Management
What technical skills for a Plant General Manager stand out to employers?
Dr. Mary Kern Ph.D.: - Clearly, the ability to use different forms of communication technology has become key, and as these forms evolve rapidly, employers are look for an ability to adapt, adopt, and teach them to their colleagues.
- Evidence-based management and decision-making are playing a much larger role in organizations, and thus the ability to work with quantitative data to understand situations and to help make decisions is crucial.
Xu Zhang Ph.D.
ChairFarmingdale State College
Department of Economics
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Plant General Manager job market given the pandemic?
Xu Zhang Ph.D.: There are a few trends in the current job maket.
- Slow recovery. Based on the December job market reports released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market slowly recovered since April, but about 44% of the prepandemic jobs have not been gained back. Between March and April, about 22.16 million jobs were lost. The U.S. labor market started to revive in May, and since then until December the market experienced 23.32 million job gains, roughly 56% of pre-pandemic level. The unemployment rate decreased gradually from April (14.8%) to December (6.7%), but still almost twice its pre-pandemic level in February (3.5%). Additionally, although the number of unemployed persons dropped from 23.11million in April to 10.74 million in December 2020, there is still a huge gap compared to 5.72 million in February.
- Uneven impacts by industries. While overall economy was hard hit by the pandemic, the job losses disproportionally impacted industry sectors. Service industries such as educational service, elective healthcare, arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services, have been hurt the most due to social distancing. Other job losses in retail service sector were related to a boom on online shopping. In addition, teenagers experienced record high unemployment rate which is associated with lack of experiences and working in hard-hit service industries.
- More employers embracing remote work. The perception of remote work has totally changed during the pandemic. After experiencing sudden changes to remote work and managing the obstacles working at home, more and more workers and employers embrace remote work, which would expand the layouts of job hunting and talent search to larger geographic areas.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Plant General Managers?
Prabal Kumar De Ph.D.: I think there will be impacts in the short term. The most important one, obviously, is the short-term job market. Although the COVID-19 recession's effect has been less severe for college graduates so far, the new opportunities are limited and will remain so at least through 2021. For many students, learning has been affected due to remote instruction, mental stress, or the lack of peer support. Sometimes, such setback is reflected in grades, which is bad enough, but such effects may often impair career skills in the medium-term.