Metalworking Machinery Manufacturers NAICS 3335

Jul 20, 2025 - Manufacturing Contracted in June

• US factory activity – a driver of demand for metalworking machinery – contracted in June for a fourth consecutive month as new orders and employment shrank at an accelerated pace, Bloomberg reports. The Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Index inched up half a point in June to 49, according to the latest data. (Readings below 50 indicate contraction.) Weak demand and shrinking order backlogs help explain a faster rate of decline in factory employment. According to the Labor Department, the US manufacturing sector shed 7,000 jobs in June, for a total of 89,000 jobs lost over the past 12 months. The nine manufacturing industries reporting growth in June included (in order) Apparel, Leather & Allied Products, Petroleum & Coal,and Nonmetallic Mineral Products, while the fabricated metal products industry was among those industries reporting contraction.
• Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the US have a direct impact on small fabricators’ cost structures, bidding strategies, and overall competitiveness, according to Exiil, a provider of software to metal manufacturers. In March, President Trump raised steel and aluminum import tariffs to the US by 25% (since doubled to 50%), ending all country exemptions, in addition to hiking tariffs on China, according to Reuters. Russian aluminum imports carry a tariff of 200%. Beyond raw metal, the US has increasingly added “downstream” or “derivative” products – such as stamped parts, fasteners, tubing, wire, or other items with high steel/aluminum content – to existing Section 232 tariffs. As a result, metal fabricators face higher materials costs. Even businesses that source metals domestically are likely to pay more for metal as US mills often raise their prices when foreign competitors’ costs go up – because the “floor” of the market shifts.

• Shop class is being retooled to teach today’s students the technical skills required to fill the manufacturing labor gap, which could swell to 3.8 million workers by 2033, according to a report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute. Leading-edge school districts are investing tens of millions of dollars to update and expand high-school shop classes for the 21st century, The Wall Street Journal reports. Vocational classes are preparing students for careers in the trades by working with wood, metals, and machinery as hands-on skills stage a comeback amid high college costs and AI’s threat to white collar job. Cutting-edge facilities – outfitted with computer-controlled machine tools and robotic arms – are attracting students at a suburban high school in Wisconsin, where about a quarter of its 2,300 students have signed up for at least one of the courses in construction, manufacturing, or woodworking, WSJ reports.
• Producer prices for metalworking machinery manufacturers rose 2.9% in May compared to a year ago, after rising 4.6% in the previous May-versus-May annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Industry producer prices were at a record high in May, extending a steep and steady climb that began in 2021. Employment by metalworking machinery manufacturers shrank 2.8% year over year in April, while average industry wages rose 4% over the same period to a new high of $28.63 per hour, BLS data show. Employment by the industry is declining amid declining new orders and shipments, down 5.8% and 4.3% year over year, respectively, in February, Census Bureau data show.