Do factories offer steady employment opportunities?

Factory work is generally stable and steady, with around 1,755,200 jobs in the U.S. economy for factory workers as of 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The BLS anticipates a 4 percent growth in jobs for assemblers and fabricators by 2022, which is slower than average.

The median pay for factory workers doing assembly and fabrication work in the United States in 2012 was $28,580 per year, which is $13.74 an hour on average. Entry into factory jobs typically requires a high school diploma or GED. The BLS anticipates an additional 64,200 factory jobs to be available to U.S. workers by 2022.