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American workers are front and center in the race to stay ahead of China. There just aren’t enough of them. Jobs are going unfilled from advanced semiconductor foundries to the drydocks where the U.S. Navy’s combat ships are built. Ships and chips are both in crisis.
And no, AI by itself isn’t the answer.
“We’ve spent the last 10 years teaching people how to code. We need to spend the next 10 years teaching people how to use their hands,” Navy Secretary John Phelan said July 16 in Detroit.
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It’s shipfitters, blasters, superconducting process integration managers and semiconductor equipment technicians who will ensure the USA beats China. Both ships and chips rely on touch labor — albeit in very sophisticated factories and foundries.
Shipbuilding is key to the US Navy’s future. FILE: The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) steams in close formation as one of 42 ships and submarines representing 15 international partner nations during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2014. (iStock)
President Donald Trump gets it. “Every policy of the Trump administration is designed to lift up the American worker, promote great-paying, blue-collar jobs and to rebuild the industrial bedrock of our nation,” he said Aug. 26.
Not that you’ll see just blue collars anymore: look for black T-shirts, plaid flannel, white clean room “bunny suits” and engineers in polos. But the essentials are the same. This critical workforce is made up of men and women who’ve built their technical expertise and thrive on getting the job done, whether with a crane or a lithography machine.
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Here’s the stunning problem. Although both ships and chips sectors are booming with urgent programs and new opportunities, America as a nation has devalued the trades and is paying the price. The manufacturing sector’s workforce decline due to decades of globalism has been so sharp that U.S. national security and economic dominance are at risk.
Just 3% of the American population today work in manufacturing, versus 9% during the Cold War. COVID-19 hit hard. Texas, Florida and Georgia have added enough manufacturing jobs to surge ahead of their pre-pandemic employment levels, but almost half of U.S. states still have lower manufacturing totals than 2019.
Unless reversed, the decline in manufacturing labor could hurt America’s position.
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Ships
You already know America’s Navy is smaller than China’s. The Navy’s own shipyards need to hire 250,000 new workers over the next decade for maintenance, construction and repair. Add in the shipbuilders who are trying to accelerate new submarines, aircraft carriers and destroyers, and workforce shortages threaten maritime dominance over China.
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Priority No. 1 is pay. Trump said that wages for blue-collar workers are rising at the fastest rate in 60 years. Wages for welders on nuclear submarines need to be much higher than fast food and delivery trucks. It’s not just entry-level jobs. Shipyards must retain experienced shipfitters ready to step up as foremen and boost the talent pool for hundreds of major suppliers. The wider plan is “the nation as a shipyard” with a combination of investment and tapping new labor pools to make ship modules in locations where labor abounds.
Chips
The U.S. share of global semiconductor manufacturing fell from 40% in 1990 to 12% in 2020. With a projected 33% growth in semiconductor jobs by 2030, the gap between job openings and qualified candidates will leave 146,000 positions unfilled. More workers are being sought for both commercial semiconductors, and for the advanced composite chips used in defense electronics.
Here’s the stunning problem. Although both ships and chips sectors are booming with urgent programs and new opportunities, America as a nation has devalued the trades and is paying the price.
These aren’t your day-to-day, mass-produced silicon chips; think multi-layered chips powering information systems for satellites, F-16 fighters, radars, Apache helicopters and more. And many are smaller than a grain of sand. Production at one advanced Linthicum, Maryland, foundry alone will quadruple by 2030 — if they can hire.
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The good news is that manufacturing is starting a resurgence, according to the St. Louis Fed. Investment in new facilities has doubled since 2022. Private capital targeted at near-term modernization in shipyards can deliver efficiency and sustained profits. The One Big Beautiful Bill expands access to Pell Grants, which can cover on-the-job training programs. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer sees job creators across America as “back at the center of our economic agenda” at locations from an aerospace composites manufacturer in Utah to a microelectronics fab in Idaho.
Trump likes to call out “the incredible hardworking men and women of our country.” Don’t forget, they are on the front lines of the race with China. American prosperity — and security — depend on America’s workers.
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