Robert Merritt on Muck Rack

Robert Merritt

Elkhart
As seen in: Fast Company, JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association), Business 2 Community, Grand Forks Herald, Future Medicine, OncLive, Confectionery News, River Bender, Atchison Globe
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work. Claim your profile

Get in touch with Robert

Contact Robert, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.

Learn more about Muck Rack

Actions

Share this page

Is this you?

As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile

Articles

The workforce shortage can’t be solved by individual employers

|
By Robert Merritt
| Fast Company Verified
Across the country, manufacturers are hiring. New plants are breaking ground. Billions of dollars are flowing into domestic production in semiconductors, advanced energy, and infrastructure. Yet one constraint continues to slow that momentum: people. The workforce shortage isn’t a temporary challenge that can be solved with a signing bonus or a new recruiting campaign. It’s structural.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Better jobs will save manufacturing

|
By Robert Merritt
| Fast Company Verified
For the better part of the last decade, conversations about U.S. manufacturing have focused on a single question: How many jobs are we adding or losing? That question misses the point. As we head into 2026, the manufacturing workforce story is far less about volume and far more about mix: the types of jobs being created, the skills they require, and whether our workforce systems can help people move into them. Manufacturing employment will likely move sideways next year, with modest gains at best.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

It’s time to change the narrative about manufacturing

|
By Robert Merritt
| Fast Company Verified
For decades, the common refrain about U.S. manufacturing has been in decline: shuttered plants, jobs shipped overseas, and communities left behind. That story carries weight because it has been true for many people. But it’s no longer the whole picture. Today, manufacturing in America is not dying—it’s hiring. And unless we change the narrative, we risk undermining the sector’s potential just as it is starting to rebound.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?
See all 15 licensed articles (17 Total)
 •  Privacy  •  Terms  •  Security and Legal  •   •   •   • 

© 2026 Muck Rack

SOC 2® Certified