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Factory jobs

COVID-19

Automakers announce furloughs due to COVID-19 shutdowns

by Jack Stewart
Apr 8, 2020
The auto industry is juggling the need to cut costs while preserving its workforce to ramp up once factories reopen.
Nissan has furloughed about 10,000 employees at plants in Tennessee and Mississippi.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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Inside one highly automated Chinese factory

by Jennifer Pak
Nov 13, 2019
China's Shuoke sports equipment factory says robots have helped triple its production.
A worker looks on as a robotic arm at the Shuoke factory sorts plastic panels to form a soccer ball. Machines like this have helped the firm cope with rising costs. (Shanghai 808 Studio)
Shanghai 808 Studio
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What worries China's manufacturers more than tariffs? Labor shortages

by Jennifer Pak
Dec 4, 2018
The country's workforce has shrunk 3 percent from 2012 to 2017; now its economy is slowing.
Huade High Voltage Electric needs a dozen more workers to keep up with demand.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace
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General Electric built this town, but its presence is shrinking

by Erika Beras
Jan 19, 2018
The company plans to leave the locomotive manufacturing industry in a few years.
Jim Connelly, a former GE engineer, hopes to go back to school and start his own business. He sits at the Lawrence Park Dinor, just up the street from the 350-acre GE plant.
Erika Beras/Marketplace
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Not enough skilled factory workers — really?

by Mitchell Hartman
Oct 7, 2016
Manufacturers complain of a rising "skills gap" among job applicants that is hampering their ability to grow and improve productivity.
Some employers say there are labor shortages in skilled manufacturing.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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How much could the return of factory jobs add up to?

by Annie Baxter
Apr 18, 2016
Manufacturers are getting more done with fewer American workers.
A factory worker at the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles US Warren Stamping Plant in Warren, Michigan.  
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
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Job market tightens but still challenging

by Mitchell Hartman
Nov 12, 2015
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows slow improvement in job-seekers' odds.
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My First Job

Sizzling summer nights: Working in a bacon factory

by Mukta Mohan
Apr 27, 2015
One woman remembers her first job.
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Cost of saving factory jobs via lower wages

by Adam Allington
Jan 7, 2015
Employment in auto industry's at pre-recession levels but jobs aren't same quality.
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