Parents

A career in today’s manufacturing industry is not like your parent/grandparents’ manufacturing job decades ago!

Maine’s traditional manufacturing sectors such as textile, shoe and paper, have been replaced by evolving manufacturing jobs in such high-tech industries as semiconductors, aerospace, robotics, aviation and biotech, and the list goes on. Careers in high-tech manufacturing are multiplying constantly.

As Part of Dream It. Do It., the Manufacturers Association of Maine is “rebranding” Maine manufacturing jobs and careers.

Here are the real facts about manufacturing in Maine:

• Maine’s manufacturing sector employed 55,331 people in 2011.
  • 10% of total statewide employment.
  • Maine’s fourth largest sector, in terms of number employed.
  • Federal manufacturing employment represents 8% of sector employment (92% private ownerships).
• Maine’s manufacturing sector generated $5.9 billion GDP in 2011.
  • Represents 11.4% of total statewide GDP.
  • Increased 6% year over year.
• Average annual wage in Maine’s manufacturing sector was $54,080 (2013).
  • 38% premium to average annual wage for all jobs.
  • 1% increase versus 2010 average annual wage.

Eighty percent of manufacturers in the United States report they cannot find the skilled employees they need. As a parent, educate yourself on the possibilities for your teenager and share that information as they explore their passions and future.