Key American industry seeing blue-collar jobs boom as Trump's re-shoring policies pay off

FIRST ON FOX: Critical blue collar manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are making inroads after years of Biden-era offshoring hollowed out the workforce, according to a new economic report.

A Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) report says 72,000 manufacturing jobs have been added in 2026 alone, many of them due to a rise in the manufacturing of durable goods like metal and transportation equipment. The advisors say this is a reverse of a Biden-era trend that saw 200,000 manufacturing jobs disappear in the last two years of the former president's administration.

The report highlights success stories from corporations that are reinvesting in Americans and expanding their businesses.

For example, the 100% expensing provision in the OBBB has helped Jergens, a manufacturing company based in Ohio, expand to Illinois.

"Since the passage of the bill [OBBB], our employees are voluntarily working additional hours," the company's CEO, Jack Schron, said. "They are keeping more of what they earn, putting more money back into the American economy and Jergens has a ready workforce. It is a win-win-win: a win for the employee, for Jergens and for the United States economy."

Schron added that 83% of his workers are picking up overtime after the OBBB provision established no taxes for overtime work.

In another example touted in the CEA report, a company in North Carolina, Ketchie Inc., has expanded its workforce by 25% after taking advantage of the 100% expensing provision to purchase new machinery. The report says the company waited to buy the equipment until the OBBB passed.

As for wages, manufacturing workers are seeing benefits, too, with their pay increasing by 7.9% since January 2025.

"Adjusted for inflation, this means that blue-collar manufacturing workers are earning nearly $2,500 more per year, on average, since President Trump took office," the report says.

It also touts figures from the construction industry, including 100,000 construction jobs added since Trump took office.

Micron is building memory chip plants in Idaho, Virginia and New York, which the report says is a $250 billion investment in the United States. Apple is investing $600 billion in American semiconductor production, too.

The report also says that major pharmaceutical companies like GSK and Gilead are investing billions of dollars in the United States, along with automakers like Stellantis.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the economy is worse under the Trump administration than before.