By Joey Gunning, Director of Economic Development, Greater Spokane Inc
Over the past five years, manufacturing job growth in Spokane County has been 0%.
You read that right. 0%. National employment hasn’t fared much better, at 2% growth. But if we look ahead, Lightcast projections show 9% growth over the next five years for manufacturing jobs in Spokane County.
So what’s the story?
Despite flat employment numbers, demand and competition hasn’t disappeared. In the past 12 months, 438 employers in Spokane County posted for 3,508 unique manufacturing-related jobs. Companies are hiring. So the industry isn’t going away. But it’s not what it used to be.
Today’s manufacturing employers are looking for technicians who can calibrate robotic equipment and troubleshoot software. Lightcast’s Skills Projections for Manufacturing show “process improvement”, “new product development”, “machining”, and “automation” all as skills with rapid growth projections over the next two years.
The evolution is on full display here in Spokane. Companies like Itron, Jubilant HollisterStier, Apple, and Honeywell International are driving demand for high-tech, high-skilled talent that often requires specialized training.
The Spokane region is on a trajectory towards innovation, and that is being driven by the presence of local industry groups like the American Aerospace Materials Manufacturing Center (AAMMC) and the Evergreen Biosciences Innovation Cluster (EBIC). These industry groups are positioning Spokane as a national hub for advanced manufacturing, blurring the lines between manufacturing and tech.
But if we want to capitalize on this coming growth, we need to align workforce training with the reality of modern manufacturing. As Lightcast’s Tim Hatton writes in a recent blog post, “While the products of durable manufacturing are built to last, Lightcast experts have been studying the industry and have found that its workforce might not be.” In the post, Hatton claims that 83% of manufacturers say that attracting and retaining a quality workforce is their top challenge.
Manufacturing isn’t disappearing, it’s evolving. How we are able to upskill our existing workforce and align training programs with industry demands will be critical for our economic future.
But it’s not just about workforce. In a recent interview with the Journal of Business, Washington State Employment Security Department regional labor economist Mike McBride pointed out that global supply chain disruptions have hit Spokane’s manufacturing sector especially hard:
When we’re looking at year-over-year numbers, manufacturing specifically had macro-level issues that affected it. The Boeing situation with the workers strike and then the trade issues all roll into the hiring. We’re a supplier to so much of the aerospace industry; it’s a significant chunk of the manufacturing locally. So what happens elsewhere has downstream effects, and that was seen and that honestly will take quite a lot of time to get ramped back up. When Boeing gets their plane production running again, it takes a full year to have the supply chain get back to churning.
Spokane is a critical link in the North American aerospace supply chain. Through cross-border efforts with Coeur d’Alene, Cranbrook, and Canada, regional leaders are working to strengthen continental supply chain resilience, ensuring communities like Spokane can absorb global shock while attracting long-term investment.
The opportunity exists to position Spokane as a next-generation supplier hub, with local manufacturing that’s flexible, tech-ready, and globally connected.
Because the next generation of manufacturing isn’t waiting for us to catch up; it’s already in motion and looking for somewhere to land.
