The state of manufacturing in the United States in 2009 can be summed up in four words: "It's the economy, stupid." At the risk of beating a dead cliché, there's not much more to it than that, based on the responses to the
IndustryWeek 2009 Salary Survey. When asked to cite the biggest challenge facing the manufacturing industry today, nearly 20% of all respondents mentioned the economy. By way of comparison, when asked the same question a year ago, the economy was cited as the biggest challenge by fewer than 2% of all respondents.
So with that as a prologue, let's cut to the chase: the average annual salary of manufacturing managers in the United States dropped by 9.7% over the past year, from $105,581 in 2008 to $95,248 in 2009. And yet, despite a recession that bleeds manufacturing jobs by the tens of thousands on an almost-daily basis and a financial crisis that has seen a marked decline in real wages, savings and investments (and that's not even counting the nightmarish spectacle of what's happening to 401k plans), there is no -- repeat, no -- evidence at all that manufacturing managers are unhappy with their jobs. When asked, "How satisfied are you with your current job?" 76% say they are "very satisfied" or "satisfied," which is actually a slight bump up from the 74% response rate in both 2007 and 2008. And when asked about their choice of manufacturing as a career path, 80% say they are "very satisfied" or "satisfied," a slight dip from the 83% in 2008 but slightly better than the 79% in 2007. Clearly, both resiliency and pride are still alive and well in the U.S. manufacturing industry.
In this year's survey, nearly 1,700 readers participated in our anonymous survey, revealing not only how much they earn and what challenges they face, but also key demographic data such as where they live, what they do, what industry verticals they work in, and perhaps most importantly, what's right and what's wrong with the current state of the industry.
As we have with previous surveys, our analysis of the 2009 survey results allows us to depict the "average manufacturing manager": a white male, between 50-59 years old, has worked in the manufacturing industry for more than 26 years, lives in the North Central region of the United States (i.e., the Midwest), has been with his current company for 3-5 years, has a bachelor's degree, works for a manufacturing of industrial products or machinery, and earns $95,248. Since there's really nothing "average" about a manufacturing manager, though, you'll hear from numerous individuals throughout this article, explaining in their own words what it means to toil in the U.S. manufacturing industry in 2009.
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