The manufacturing industry lost 2,000 jobs in April, losing some of the momentum it gained the prior month, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released May 8.
It’s a moderate 50% increase compared to data from the same time last year, which showed 4,000 job cuts. However, month over month, it’s a plunge of over 113% from March’s 15,000 job count.
The latest employment situation data reflects the Institute for Supply Management’s Purchasing Manager’s Index April report. The employment index contracted last month, registering 46.4%, according to the ISM. An employment index above 50.3% is generally consistent with increases in BLS manufacturing employment data, per the ISM.
Monthly job additions and losses from January 2025 to April 2026
Of the six big manufacturing industries, only transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, and machinery reported higher levels of employment in April, Susan Spence, chair of ISM’s Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, said in a statement.
Still, “For every comment on hiring, there was 1.7 on reducing headcounts,” Spence said.
The transportation equipment sector, which includes trailers and motor vehicle bodies and parts, lost the most jobs last month with approximately 3,600 — a 155% nosedive from the 6,500 jobs the sector gained in March.
The beverage, tobacco, and leather and allied product sector lost 2,500 workers. Meanwhile, machinery, apparel, paper and plastics and rubber products each lost 1,000 or more employees.
In terms of job gains, the chemical sector topped the list in April, adding 2,400 workers. This was followed by the fabricated metal, food, nonmetallic mineral product, primary metal, electrical equipment, appliance and component sectors, which each added 1,000 or more jobs last month.
Manufacturing unemployment decreased by over 9% to 501,000 workers in April, compared to 552,000 year over year.
Some of the job losses could be attributed to auto components maker First Brands Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2025.
The troubled company announced in January that it began winding down its operations involving its North American Brake Parts, Cardone and Autolite brands after it failed to secure funding. Additionally, First Brand issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letters in February, stating that it was laying off hundreds of workers and shuttering plants in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Michigan.
Layoffs were initially scheduled to be complete in April, though updated WARN letters to Ohio officials indicate the company is retaining the majority of its workforce at its facilities through May 31.
Additionally, filter maker Premium Guard closed its acquisition of First Brand’s intellectual property and assets, including automotive brands such as Autolite, Fram, Trico, Anco, LuberFiner and StrongArm in April. Premium Guard’s purchase could lead to reopening facilities, according to media reports.
Manufacturing sectors that added or lost jobs in April 2026
The jobs reports come as President Donald Trump is set to meet with China President Xi Jinping later this week, which “raises the stakes,” Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said in a statement
“Accommodating China with a tariff truce or allowing investment in key U.S. industries such as autos would set back efforts to reshore factory jobs and reinvigorate our manufacturing base,” Paul said.
“I continue to be bullish on the future of American factory jobs with so much investment and construction underway in the sector, but the shocks caused by the conflict with Iran and efforts to accommodate China present significant headwinds,” he said.
Openings, layoffs, turnovers and separations
The BLS reported that March job openings in the manufacturing industry increased nearly 19% to 462,000 compared with the same period last year, according to its job openings and labor turnover survey data released May 5.
Separations, however, decreased by approximately 11% YOY to 278,000. According to the BLS, there were 172,000 quits and 89,000 layoffs and discharges. Other separations, which factor in retirement, death, disability and transfers within a company, decreased about 24% to 21,000.
Additionally, revised data from February 2026’s JOLT report now show 443,000 openings, 282,000 hires and 288,000 separations.
