We'll see 'pressures on manufacturing' until the Delta variant is under control: NAM CEO Jay Timmons

Jay Timmons, National Association of Manufacturers President & CEO, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss National Manufacturing Day and how his outlook for the manufacturing sector.

Video transcript

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SEANA SMITH: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance. Now, the debate in Washington-- it rolls on. President Biden as we speak right now-- right around this time, he's expected to head over to Capitol Hill to speak with members of the House Democratic Caucus, trying to drum up support for his spending plans. We want to talk about this in terms of what's at stake for the manufacturing sector.

And for that, let's bring in Jay Timmons. He is National Association of Manufacturers president and CEO. Jay, it's good to see you again. So if we get this deal passed-- there's lots of question marks in the air right now just in terms of the size of these spending packages and what the final legislation is going to look like. But if we do get something passed, which I think is likely that something will get through, what does that mean for the manufacturing sector when it comes to job creation, and also when it comes to just the future of the manufacturing sector over the next couple of years?

JAY TIMMONS: So I share your optimism, Seana. I really do believe we're going to get something through fairly quickly. And of course, in Washington, fairly quickly is pretty subjective. But I do think we can get this infrastructure bill through. And I think it's incredibly important not just for manufacturers, but for the entire economy in the United States.

Look, we've-- we all are aware of the dire situation when it comes to America's crumbling infrastructure. And this is a much needed infusion of investment, much needed, literally-- the first time in two, possibly three, generations that we've seen this kind of commitment to infrastructure improvement.

It means jobs. It means investment. It means a better quality of life. So we're-- you know, we're very bullish, and we're very hopeful that this thing gets through pretty quickly.

SEANA SMITH: Jay, what are you seeing on the ground? Just what are you hearing from manufacturers? We got that ISM Manufacturing Index number out this morning. In it, we saw supplier deliveries, prices both ticking up-- so showing that the Delta variant is still having a real effect here on supply chains. What do we need just in terms of solving these issues? And, I guess, how sticky are some of these issues likely to be?

JAY TIMMONS: Well, you know, I can tell you one real key way to solving some of these thornier issues, like increasing prices, constricted supply chain-- that is to get shots in arms. The fact is until we get the Delta variant under control and get COVID under control, we're going to continue to see a lot of these pressures on manufacturing.

We have a very severe constriction in the supply chain. Much of that is because of-- well, you heard your previous guest talk about the bottlenecks in the ports and other logistics issues.

The other big issue we have-- it's a huge issue-- is we have many jobs in manufacturing that are going unfilled, 900,000. We're going to have to fill 4 million jobs, Seana, by the end of this decade. And it's why the NAM has launched our Creators Wanted campaign to inspire the next generation of manufacturing workers.

Today, by the way, is Manufacturing Day all across the country. The president has declared that, and it's a day that we open up our facilities to young people and students and parents and teachers to show them what modern manufacturing is all about.

Once we get more workers into our facilities, that bottleneck in the supply chain is going just start to ease, and prices will start to stabilize.

SEANA SMITH: And Jay, speaking of Manufacturing Day, you and I have talked about this in the past, the effort that you're putting forward just in order to close that gap, the number that-- what you said, 900,000 open jobs in manufacturing right now expected to significantly increase over the next couple of years. What's working just in terms of closing that gap, because you're not the only industry that's facing this type of issue?

JAY TIMMONS: Right. So before the pandemic, we were at about 600,000 open jobs. At the worst part of the pandemic, we still had 300,000 open jobs. And as I said earlier, we're going to see that number expand to about 4 million jobs that we have to fill before the end of this decade.

What we're seeing work is actually showing young people what incredibly rewarding careers are available in manufacturing today. So often, folks think about manufacturing as dirty, dark, and dangerous, kind of like it was back in the era of our grandfathers.

Today, manufacturing is very sleek. It's very technology-driven. You know, if a young person likes to play videogames, man, they're going to love manufacturing. That's a skill that-- you know, I have three young kids. I probably wasn't thinking, when I ended up getting them the videogames, that it actually would be great training for manufacturing jobs someday.

So it's funny. When young people do go into our facilities or when they spend some time virtually, which is something that, obviously, today, we're seeing a lot of, they get really excited and they say, well, what can we do? What can we-- what type of jobs are available?

So our Creators Wanted campaign, which we're launching in Columbus, Ohio, next week, allows young people to go through a virtual experience. It's kind of a hands-on escape room concept. They answer questions about manufacturing, things that-- kind of gee whiz-- things that they may not have known.

They come out, and then they start answering questions about what they might want to do with their lives. Do they want to create the next medicine that will help cure terrible diseases? Do they want to create a new technology that allows people to communicate more easily? Do they want to work in things that have to do with outer space?

When they answer those questions, it takes them down to several potential jobs that might be right for them in manufacturing. And then we are able to kind of make sure that they have the information they need to research those jobs.

SEANA SMITH: Jay Timmons, it's always great to speak with you, National Association of Manufacturers president and CEO. And we look forward to checking in with you in a few months to see how this is progressing.