It's estimated that 2.1 million factory jobs will remain unfilled by 2030. However, efforts to increase equity in manufacturing promise to substantially expand the workforce and create pathways to the middle class for underserved communities. A new project coordinated by the Century Foundation (TCF) and the Urban Manufacturing Alliance examines the vital role community colleges play in this. TCF Fellow Michelle Burris explains how.

Photo courtesy of The Century Foundation

When the Biden administration released its year-long supply chain review — a report that was written by seven federal agencies and totaled in more than 1,300 pages — on Feb. 24, its import was understandably dwarfed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that day. However, the historic report reveals much about the Biden administration’s commitment to green industrial policy. Roosevelt Institute Director of Industrial Policy and Trade Todd Tucker, who authored a brief on the supply chain report, breaks it down for us.

Photo courtesy of the Roosevelt Institute

Since the Commerce Department first announced its plans to investigate whether Chinese solar panel manufacturers have been circumventing U.S. duties, the media has been whipped into a frenzy. And they’ve been playing right into the hands of a powerful special interest group – the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) – that’s made it its mission to cancel Commerce’s inquiry. David Dayen, the executive editor of public policy magazine The American Prospect, joins The Manufacturing Report to report what he has uncovered about SEIA and debunks some of the organization’s most insidious myths about trade enforcement.

Photo courtesy of David Dayen

The Commerce Department is investigating whether Chinese companies are routing solar panels through other countries to avoid U.S. duties. But this relatively routine trade case has erupted into a firestorm, with a special interest group undertaking a highly-organized and well-funded media campaign to cancel it. Much of their ire has been directed at Auxin Solar Inc., the California solar panel maker that filed the original petition. Auxin CEO Mamun Rashid joins The Manufacturing Report to explain why he's seeing this fight through — and why policymakers need to support American manufacturers like this company.

New Hampshire is poised to join dozens of other states and the federal government in passing legislation that would reinvest taxpayer dollars into local workers and communities. State Sen. Tom Sherman shares how the bill has bridged the partisan divide in its aim of cultivating a more robust and independent domestic manufacturing base for the state's most vital infrastructure.

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When Mitch Cahn founded his custom apparel and accessory company, Unionwear, committing to a unionized workforce was one of his first steps. Listen in for why it’s been the foundation of his success and how the Newark, N.J., company is evolving to be cost-competitive with even offshore manufacturers and navigating the challenges of the current labor market.

Photo courtesy Unionwear

Guatemala-born Consuelo Poland Lockhart had long planned a career in the arts when a foray into welding sparked a new trajectory. Now, she’s making it her mission to show Latina and non-Latina women in Central Indiana that they have a place behind the blowtorch with her nonprofit, Latinas Welding Guild.

Photo by Jonathan Galeano

As Russia's unrestrained aggression and its alliance with China roils geopolitics, America's relationship with Beijing is under ever greater pressure. Isaac Stone Fish, CEO of research firm Strategy Risks and author of "America Second: How America's Elites Are Making China Stronger", reveals the deep network of China's influence in America's highest circles of power that shapes the United States' relationship with Beijing.

Photo courtesy Isaac Stone Fish

Supply chain chaos and geopolitical unrest is forcing trade policy and domestic manufacturing to “the middle of the conversation” for policymakers and brands alike. But American Giant, the Made in America apparel brand, is well prepared to offer some answers. Listen in for how American Giant CEO Bayard Winthrop is expanding his business and investing in the men and women who make America work.

Photo courtesy American Giant

As the nation tuned into this year’s State of the Union address, a special few Americans were invited to join First Lady Jill Biden in the audience. Second-generation steelworker and U.S. Army veteran Joseph “JoJo” Burgess was among those honored guests. But this wasn’t Burgess’s first time meeting President Biden.

Official White House Photo by Erin Scott