Factory jobs are surging in hottest manufacturing labor market since the 1970s, leading some to wonder if the U.S. was entering a new American Industrial Revolution. According to a recent story in The New York Times, U.S. factory jobs are booming, regaining and eclipsing jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Manufacturing and factory jobs have skyrocketed across the U.S. despite living in an era of high inflation and shortages, new data reflects. More people have joined the manufacturing workforce than in pre-pandemic times.