Employment of assemblers and fabricators is projected to decline slowly, primarily reflecting productivity growth and strong foreign competition in manufacturing. Job opportunities are expected to be good for qualified applicants in the manufacturing sector, particularly in jobs needing more training.

Employment change. Employment of assemblers and fabricators is expected to decline slowly by 4 percent between 2006 and 2016. Within the manufacturing sector, employment of assemblers and fabricators will be determined largely by the growth or decline in the production of certain manufactured goods. In general, despite projected growth in the output of manufactured goods, employment overall is expected to decline as the whole sector becomes more automated and is able to produce more with fewer workers. However, some individual industries are projected to have more jobs than others. The aircraft products and parts industry is projected to gain jobs over the decade as demand for new commercial and military planes grows significantly. Thus, the need for aircraft structure, surfaces, rigging, and systems assemblers is expected to grow. In addition, because much of the assembly in the aerospace industry is done in hard-to-reach locations—inside airplane fuselages or gear boxes, for example—which are unsuited to robots, aircraft assemblers will not be as easily replaced by automated processes.

In most other manufacturing industries, employment of assemblers and fabricators will be negatively affected by increasing automation, improving productivity, and the shift of assembly to countries with lower labor costs. The effects of automation, though, will be felt more among some types of assemblers and fabricators than among others. Automation will replace workers in operations with a large volume of repetitive work. Automation will have less effect on the assembly of parts that are irregular in size or location.

The use of team production techniques has been one factor in the continuing success of the manufacturing sector, boosting productivity and improving the quality of goods. Thus, while the number of assemblers overall is expected to decline in manufacturing, the number of team assemblers will grow or remain stable as more manufacturing plants convert to using team production techniques.

Other manufacturers have sent their assembly functions to countries where labor costs are lower. Decisions by U.S. corporations to move assembly to other nations should limit employment growth for assemblers in some industries, but a free trade environment also may lead to growth in the export of goods assembled in the United States.

The largest increase in the number of assemblers and fabricators is projected to be in the employment services industry, which supplies temporary workers to various industries. Temporary workers are gaining in importance in the manufacturing sector and elsewhere as companies strive for a more flexible workforce to meet the fluctuations in the market. There will also be more jobs for assemblers and fabricators in the wholesale and retail sectors of the economy. As more goods come unassembled from foreign countries to save on shipping costs, wholesalers and retailers are increasingly assembling products before selling them to their customers.

Job prospects. Job opportunities for assemblers are expected to be good for qualified applicants in the manufacturing sector, particularly in jobs needing more training. Some employers report difficulty finding qualified applicants looking for manufacturing employment. The best opportunities should be with smaller manufacturers as large, high-profile companies tend to attract more applicants. In addition to new jobs stemming from growth in this occupation, many job openings will result from the need to replace workers leaving or retiring from this large occupational group. For example, foreign automobile manufacturers who built plants in the 1980s are expecting a large number of retirements in the next decade and a surge in demand for team assemblers.

Assemblers and fabricators held nearly 2.1 million jobs in 2006. They worked in almost every industry, but 3 out of 4 worked in manufacturing. Within the manufacturing sector, assembly of transportation equipment, such as aircraft, autos, trucks, and buses, accounted for 19 percent of all jobs. Assembly of computers and electronic products accounted for another 11 percent of all jobs. Other industries that employ many assemblers and fabricators are machinery manufacturing: heating and air-conditioning equipment; agriculture, construction, and mining machinery; and engine, turbine, and power transmission equipment; electrical equipment, appliance, and component manufacturing: lighting, household appliances, and electrical equipment; and fabricated metal products.

The following tabulation shows the employment of assemblers and fabricators in the manufacturing industries that employed the most workers in 2006:

Assemblers and fabricators also work in many other nonmanufacturing industries. Twelve percent were employed by employment services firms, mostly as temporary workers; most of these temporary workers were likely assigned to manufacturing plants. Wholesale and retail trade firms employed the next highest number of assemblers and fabricators. Many of these assemblers perform the final assembly of goods before the item is delivered to the customer. For example, most imported furniture is shipped in pieces and assemblers for furniture wholesalers and retailers put together the furniture prior to delivery.

Team assemblers, the largest specialty, accounted for 61 percent of assembler and fabricator jobs. The distribution of employment among the various types of assemblers was as follows in 2006:

Information about employment opportunities for assemblers is available from local offices of the State employment service and from locals of the unions mentioned earlier.