Career Trends: Industrial Production Managers

Industrial production managers oversee the daily operations of manufacturing and related plants. They coordinate, plan, and direct the activities used to create a wide range of goods, such as cars, computer equipment, or paper products.

Most industrial production managers work full time, and almost half worked more than 40 hours per week in 2014.

Industrial production managers typically need a bachelor’s degree and several years of related work experience.

Employment of industrial production managers is projected to decline 4 percent from 2014 to 2024. Most of these managers are employed in various manufacturing industries, and may experience growth or decline along with the industries in which they are employed.

This occupation supported 172,700 jobs in 2012 and 173,400 jobs in 2014, reflecting an increase of 0.4%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to decrease by 2.4% in 2022 to 168,600 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 171,800, compared with an observed value of 173,400, 0.9% higher than expected. This indicates current employment trends are about on track with the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to decrease by 3.7% in 2024 to 167,000 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 167,700 jobs for 2024, 0.4% higher than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are about on track with the 2012 trend within this occupation.