After the October jobs report showed another month of manufacturing gains, Gunn warns that the real bottleneck isn’t machines or factories. It’s the people trained to run them.

Nov 9, 2026, San Diego ,CA – U.S. manufacturing added 19,000 jobs in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report released November 6. The sector has now added 101,000 jobs since December 2025. Machinery and primary metals manufacturers were among the gains, and the factory workweek held at 40.5 hours with overtime edging up.

Tony Gunn is a machinist and a famous manufacturing commentator who has visited shop floors in more than 70 countries. He calls the numbers encouraging but says they hide a harder problem.

“The headline is good news. Shops are hiring again. But every shop owner I talk to says the same thing: they can buy the machine in a month, and it takes years to develop the person who can program it, set it up and hold a tolerance. That’s the number nobody’s reporting.”

Automation is raising the bar for workers

This is what new manufacturing jobs look like now. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the sector’s hiring rebound comes with higher barriers to entry, as automation creates roles that demand more technical skill. The Reshoring Initiative’s 2026 survey found that 63% of OEMs plan U.S. investments through 2027, and it named the skilled-worker shortage as one of the biggest obstacles to that growth.

The BLS projects about 34,000 openings every year for machinists and tool and die makers, mostly to replace workers who are retiring.

“People assume robots replace machinists. In practice, automation means one skilled person runs a whole cell. That makes the skilled person more valuable. If they retire and nobody has learned what they know, the cell sits idle.”

What other countries do differently

Gunn points to his time in manufacturing regions around the world. He says the countries that keep their factory workforce strong treat machining as a respected technical career, starting in school.

“I’ve seen apprenticeship systems where a 16-year-old is proud to be on a CNC track. Here, we spent decades telling kids the shop floor was a dead end. If we want these jobs to last, we have to change how we talk about the work.”

Gunn’s recommendations for manufacturers and educators:

  • Capture knowledge before it retires. Pair senior machinists with younger workers on purpose, and don’t leave it to chance.

  • Cross-train across processes. In a thin labor market, a machinist who can turn, mill and program is worth far more than a specialist in one operation.

  • Bring industry into classrooms. Shop tours, CNC programs and employer-backed training show students modern manufacturing as it really is.

About Tony Gunn

Tony Gunn, known as The Worldwide Machinist, is a machinist and global manufacturing advocate who has travelled to more than 70 countries covering CNC machining, automation and workforce development. He hosts The Machinists Club Podcast. More at themachinistsclub.com.

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