American manufacturing jobs make a comeback

(CNN) - There's some good news for the economy. "Made in America" appears to be making a comeback.

Accordingly, a post-pandemic manufacturing boom has increased profits and created scores of new jobs.

However, there's still a demand for more skilled workers.

At a training facility in Pittsburgh, job-seekers are learning new skills to seize on a post-pandemic spike in manufacturing.

New Century Careers (NCC)

"What's really heightened the issue of the big need and the big demand for these types of individuals is with the coupling of COVID and the individuals that were already looking to retire in the next three to four years."

Neil Ashbaugh is President and CEO of New Century Careers (NCC).

For further context, NCC is a non-profit program for adults looking to enter the industry in the most competitive environment in years.

"We have individuals that are completing these skilled training programs, and yet are going out on 5,6,7 interviews and those companies are all competing for that single source, skilled individual," Ashbaugh explained.

$200 billion increase

Furthermore, US manufacturing has increased it's profits by more than $200 billion since 2020.

Moreover, this prospect offers hundreds of thousands of jobs each month. So what’s behind the latest boost?

Jennison Corporation

At the Jennison Corporation, workers are busy making everything from firefighter’s equipment to construction machinery.

Hayden Jennison says recent supply chain issues overseas have mean more customers.

"It was taking months for orders to not only get manufactured but come across and they decided that they we're willing to pay U.S. manufacturing pricing to be able to get that much faster."

Pricing and product demands have changed drastically in recent years.

When service industries became scarce over the pandemic, demand for consumer products and of course, PPE and medical equipment kept factory workers essential.

New technologies paving the way forward

"Among the average consumer, we did see that hey, there's a real value for American made products."

Industry expert Eric Esota says new technologies are also paving the way forward.

"We often take a look at the images of manufacturing and we see that the sparks fly in a welding environment or perhaps a little bit dingy, dark. But by and large our manufacturing jobs today are high tech," Esota explained.

But today’s techs are also requiring higher salaries and more flexibility.

"We've had a significant raise on wages staying competitive in the industry."

Jennison says there’s enough work to staff another full shift at this facility, but even at $20-30 an hour, finding the right team has been difficult.

"Hiring has been a problem through. Since 2020, hiring an experienced candidates that understand the industry and understand what they're doing has been very difficult," Jennison continued.

Newly-trained candidates are glad to be coming in now.

As some were laid off during the pandemic, they are now in high demand.