Mack news aside, region’s manufacturing sector prospects remain potent

MACUNGIE, Pa. — Mack Trucks blamed uncertainty and tariffs for their decision to layoff between 250 and 350 workers at its Lehigh Valley Operations center over the coming months.

The April 17 announcement noted the company had to “…align production with reduced demands for our vehicles,” according to the trade publication FleetOwner.

The disheartening news for the company, hundreds of workers and their families produced comments from regional business leaders and elected officials lamenting the news.

Still, an examination of the region’s manufacturing sector indicates expected growth over the 21^st century’s first half.

Manufacturing is forecasted in the next decade to grow 15 percent and by 49 percent in the next 30 years.

This is projected to surpass total employment in transportation and warehousing by 2035 to become the region’s second largest labor industry, according to a 2022 study by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.

As of October 2024, the Lehigh Valley’s manufacturing sector is the region’s third-largest employment sector, behind health care and social assistance, and transportation and warehousing.

The sector employed 36,236 for an 11.3 percent total of all employment in the Lehigh Valley, according to the Pennsylvania Center for Workforce Information Analysis.

These jobs provide an average $78,621 salary, higher than either the health care or transportation and warehousing industries, and more than double the fourth highest regional employer – retail – which produced a $35,777 average salary.

The long-term prospects of employment in the manufacturing sector are stagnant. From 2022 through 2032 the sector is predicted to shed .4 percent or 2,490 existing jobs across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.

However, Lehigh Valley projections indicate a different story. Job growth in manufacturing is predicted to rise from roughly 37,000 to nearly 49,000 in the next 25 years, according to a Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board and Lehigh Valley Planning Commission report presented to a Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce manufacturing forum held Oct. 3, 2024. 

Recent federal data shows that the Lehigh Valley’s more than 700 manufacturers collectively produced $8.1 billion worth of output in 2022, according to the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. That’s an increase from $7.3 billion the year previous.

“We make everything from medical devices to semiconductors, to steel pipe valves and airplane parts, to beer and cranberry juice, to Mack Trucks and crayons – and a lot in between,” Don Cunningham, LVEDC president and CEO noted during an address at the organization’s March 18 annual meeting.

LVEDC said the region’s skilled workforce, location, talent pipeline, apprenticeship programs and Foreign Trade Zone create collectively an attractive region for manufacturing growth.

Mack is considered an advanced manufacturer, along with other companies with Lehigh Valley facilities such as Crayola, Victaulic and Lutron Electronics.

Advanced manufacturing is defined generally as manufacturing which integrates machinery with digital and cloud-based technologies, according to the International Trade Administration.

The ITA said advanced manufacturing systems – also called “Smart Manufacturing” – is essential to keeping manufacturing growing now and into the future.

This is accurate, they note, because it not only supports supply chain transparency and resiliency but also allows manufacturers to adapt to changing market conditions more efficiently and effectively.

Statistics, speeches and forecasts will not change Mack’s April 17 announcement.

However, if correct, the prospects the Lehigh Valley can build on its ranking in the top 15 % of manufacturing markets in the nation is attainable.