We recently released our annual Wage & Workforce Study report, which gives an up-to-date snapshot of the manufacturing workplace in Kentucky.
What’s new this year
Typically, we’ve asked manufacturers to share what their starting wages are for production jobs. For 2025, we added a question about wages in those same jobs for someone with five years of experience. This revealed some encouraging data about the upward path of manufacturing careers. We limited the question about wages for experienced workers to production occupations and did not include “front office” positions in that analysis.
There are some other interesting trends, including a shift in usage of temp labor, and an increase in manufacturers implementing marijuana policies.
Regional reports
The statewide report includes only manufacturing SOC codes, and only Kentucky operations (although we do have an occasional company from Evansville or Cincinnati included), but an especially useful item is produced whenever we can get 35 companies to participate within a workforce area: 35 participants is the minimum sample size which allows us to produce a regional report. This year we produced a regional report for South Central (the Bowling Green area), and we hope to gain that level of participation in several more areas next year!
How you can get involved
Help your area get a regional report in 2026 by encouraging your local manufacturers to participate. If you have a local HR group or CEO roundtable, we’d be happy to come present on the study results and explain how to participate next year. We plan to open the 2026 survey in May, so let’s build interest over the next few months!
Here is a link to the 2025 Infographic:
https://kam.us.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/KAM-205-Wage-Workforce-Study-Infographic-Final-1.pdf
And here is a link to purchase a copy:
https://kentuckyassociationofmanufacturers.growthzoneapp.com/store/
