Latest news with #Soter
Forbes
10-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Are Factory Jobs Making A Comeback? Some Offering Over $80K A Year
There's a lot of talk about the resurgence of factory manufacturing work. Could it be your next new ... More dream job? According to the White House, manufacturing jobs are roaring back under President Trump. The report says the rebound in manufacturing jobs was led by the automobile sector, which gained 8,900 new jobs in February, 2025—after losing 27,300 auto jobs in 2024. Trump insists that the new administration will supercharge the country's domestic base. The truth is there's a cultural nostalgia around factory jobs, known as 'smokestack nostalgia"--a time when Americans worked in good solid jobs for generations. But is it a dream or delusion that factory jobs are making a resurgence? U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says factory gigs are the 'great jobs of the future' for Gen Z amid the administration's efforts to fuel a multi-generational manufacturing boom. But not if Gen Zers have anything to do with it, according to Mike Goetsch, head of product at Soter. The problem is that Gen Z isn't interested in factory work, he says because they believe they're low-paying, dead-end jobs. The typical Gen Zer is looking for micro-shifts or flexible gig jobs that provide free time and work-life balance. Factory jobs have gotten a bum rap among Gen Z, partly because they have misleading, dinosaur images of what's involved in manufacturing jobs. A 2023 Soter report finds only 14% of Gen Z say they'd consider industrial work as a career path. A college degree used to be a ticket to stability, but not anymore. More business leaders are saying, "Ditch the 4-year degree." And tech workers are facing layoffs, slower wage growth and the quiet disappearance of roles as AI redefines the white-collar landscape. Experts declare what was once a clear path is now a moving target, demanding constant reinvention. Some say it's a temporary shakeup due to the pandemic, inflation or corporate efficiency efforts. But others envision a deeper shift underway, and see it as a make-it or break-it moment for employers in the manufacturing sector who need to step up. In the Suter report, 38% of Gen Zers say they don't know what industrial workers do, indicating a clear lack of education around industrial work. Goetsch says that's why it's not surprising that a measly 14% of Gen Zers would consider industrial work. Although 26% of Gen Z thinks industrial work is a good short-term job, they don't see it as a long-term option. 'It's clear the Secretary of Commerce's POV that factory jobs are great long-term career options is at odds with Gen Z's perspective,' Goetsch asserts. According to Goetsch, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average rate of manufacturing employee turnover is currently 39.9% (up from 30.6% in 2017). He states that this statistic is exacerbated by the fact that fewer young people are entering the industry, and a wave of baby boomers are retiring. Due to these labor concerns, he points out that manufacturers are increasing salaries to attract new talent, citing the Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of Labor Statistics' average manufacturer hourly earnings $35.06, up 4.3% year-over-year. 'Within the manufacturing sector, there are other specialties outside production and operations positions like machine operators. For example, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) professionals like EHS Engineers make an average salary of $83,342 per year or $40.07 per hour,' he explains. "The top 10% makes over $115,400 per year, which is an incredibly lucrative career path Gen Zers should consider. Part of the challenge is amplifying these opportunities and informing young people that these opportunities don't only exist but can be excellent paths for great salaries. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, there were 400,000 open jobs for factory workers in February 2025, and employers are having trouble filling those positions, even though factory jobs look very different today than in the 1950s. I asked Goetsch how leaders can attract Gen Z to some of the lucrative factory jobs, and he mentions the importance of cracking the myth. 'If employers don't adequately work to debunk some of the perceptions Gen Zers hold about industrial work at large," he told me, 'they risk disappearing their workforce, which could foil the administration's plans to revive the manufacturing sector.' He is convinced that one of the best ways to do that is to re-frame the narrative that these jobs aren't cutting-edge or tech-forward. 'A third (33%) of Gen Zers say they want to work for a company that is actively embracing new tech to help employees do their jobs,' Goetsch notes. 'While an emphasis on tech and automation might have been a perk or a non-issue to previous generations (or even a pain point for older generations), for Gen Z, it's a priority. However, only 18% of Gen Zers surveyed said they believe industrial work is embracing new technology.' Goetsch argues that the majority of industrial sectors have fallen far behind on tech and innovation, compared to their corporate counterparts, and Gen Zers know it. "While there has been recent interest in more cutting-edge tech in the industrial workplace, there is a need for more plentiful–and more strategic–investment in tech if industrial employers want to prioritize Gen Zers' job criteria," he insists. There is some good news along these lines. Myron Moser, chairman emeritus of Hartfiel Automation and business consultant Dhaval Jadav, are counseling their manufacturing clients to navigate the 'automation chasm' on how factories can recruit and manage expectations of younger workers, preparing them for a more automated future. Goetsch cites Soter as a great example of companies that can attract Gen Zers to factory jobs. 'We use AI and computer vision to help EHS professionals identify hazards, risks and violations on the factory floor within about 30 seconds, and with 99% accuracy,' he concludes. 'Gen Z, having grown up immersed in digital technology, is less inclined to tolerate manual processes. Faced with repetitive, outdated tasks, they are likely to not only lose patience but to write off the entire industry if it seems antiquated.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mass. legislators push for more forceful action on intoxicating hemp-derived products
A whole range of hemp products including flower and pre-rolls at Healing Hemp, a hemp store in Somerville. (Photo by Bhaamati Borkhetaria/CommonWealth Beacon) BOSTON — State lawmakers session are looking to take hemp-derived intoxicating products – which contain the same active ingredient as cannabis but are not regulated the same way – off shelves in gas stations, convenience stores, and vape shops across Massachusetts. The hemp products, which are generally edible and intoxicating like gummies or candies, have already been declared illegal in the state by several state agencies but continue to pop up in certain stores outside of dispensaries. Most of these products come from out of state. Some business owners who sell the intoxicating products argue that the state agencies haven't settled the matter because hemp is legal federally – through a loophole in the 2018 federal farm bill which legalized hemp. Hemp and cannabis are the same plant, but this law removed hemp from the classification of cannabis as long as it contains less than 0.3% THC – the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis – by volume. Four bills have been filed on Beacon Hill to bring any consumable hemp-derived products like edibles, concentrates, tinctures, oils, and capsules, under the purview of the Cannabis Control Commission or give local boards of health oversight to remove these products from stores other than dispensaries. Hemp products that are sold in dispensaries like CBD gummies are already regulated by the commission. These bills would specifically target intoxicating products being sold outside of dispensaries. '[Hemp products] face no additional tax impositions, no host community agreements, no recall process, no FDA testing requirements, no age limits,' said Rep. Dawne Shand, a Newburyport Democrat, at a Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy hearing on Wednesday. 'The intoxicating hemp industry makes a mockery of cannabis laws.' Shand, a member of the committee, is pushing a bill that would prohibit intoxicating hemp products from being sold without an endorsement from the Cannabis Control Commission. Rep. Michael Soter, a Republican from Bellingham, has two bills that would address hemp-derived products. The fourth bill, presented by James C. Arena-DeRosa, imposes an excise tax on the sale of hemp products in addition to the existing state tax and directs that money to be used to empower local health board to remove certain hemp products from stores. 'I think [hemp] should be up to the control of the Cannabis Control Commission,' said Soter, in an interview before the hearing. 'You've got people who are following the rules … and then you've got some things that are kind of being sold in convenience stores and gas stations. Some of this stuff is really geared towards kids, and that's not a good thing.' Soter emphasized that he wants to be very careful in creating legislation to deal with hemp products because he doesn't want to inadvertently harm businesses that sell non-intoxicating hemp products, like oils or creams that contain CBD and are meant to be applied topically. 'What scares me about regulating this is that sometimes we over-regulate and we put more problems on an industry,' said Soter. 'We've got to walk that fine line. I want to keep us on a straight path of going after what we need to go after and what we don't need to go after and make sure when we do this regulation, we do it correctly.' At the hearing, Jesse Alderman, a lawyer who specializes in cannabis, and Peter Gallagher, the CEO of the cannabis company INSA, brought a bag of intoxicating hemp products that they said they collected from over 20 different gas stations, convenience stores, and vape shops. Many of these products had high concentrations of THC. One of the packages contained 10,000 milligrams of THC. For cannabis, the state allows only 100 milligrams per package and 5 milligrams per serving. They passed the bag around to the legislators, who commented that the products smelled like cannabis. 'If it smells like it, looks like it, I think it is it,' said Adam Gomez, the Senate chair of the cannabis committee. Gallagher said that they tested these products and that over 90% of them would qualify as cannabis products because they contained well over 0.3% of THC. About a third of the products wouldn't have passed the regulatory testing required on cannabis products because of the presence of microbes, pesticides, heavy metals, and residual solvents. None of the establishments where he purchased the hemp products checked for identification to enforce age limits, he added. 'This really looks a lot like what we saw in 2019 with the vape crisis where illegal, unregulated, untested vape cartridges [were] being sold with cutting agents in them and [that] ultimately led to people harming themselves,' said Gallagher. 'A lot of consumers today don't understand that what's being purchased in these gas stations, convenience stores, vape shops or even online is different and potentially more damaging than what you're able to purchase in the regulated dispensaries.' In Massachusetts, several state agencies issued guidance in May 2024 that said that these types of products are illegal. The Alcohol Beverage Control Commission warned its licensees that their licenses could be suspended or revoked if they were caught selling hemp-derived products. Soon after, many of these products were taken out of liquor stores, smoke shops, restaurants, and many other places that were selling them. But the crackdown on these products has remained uneven because the enforcement on these products has largely remained in the hands of local boards of health, which are already overburdened and don't have the resources to go from store to store. Last session, legislators decided not to intervene on the issue of hemp-derived products, but representatives of local boards of health said that they are unable to get these products out of stores and out of the hands of children without more resources allocated to them for this issue. John Nathan, the CEO of a company called Bay State Extracts, which produces hemp-derived compounds like CBD, said that the legislation proposed at the hearing would be redundant because these products – as per the guidance from the state agencies – are already illegal. He also expressed concern about the Cannabis Control Commission's ability to actually regulate hemp products effectively. The commission has had internal conflict, allegations of misconduct, and a slow-moving regulatory process that has frustrated many within the cannabis industry. 'The CCC has barely enforced their existing hemp regulations and guidance is as it stands,' said Nathan. 'The cannabis industry is in turmoil. There's over saturation, struggles for bill payments, layoffs, competitive and low-paying job market, what seems like monthly closures. I feel effort should be directed towards supporting the existing market and coordinating to fix these issues, rather than disrupting the supply chain in an effort to make something already illegal illegal again.' This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Republican state rep mulls possible run for higher Mass. office. What his priorities are
BOSTON — If. That's the word state Rep. Michael Soter, R-Bellingham, stresses when discussing his political future, which could include a run for state treasurer, lieutenant governor or even challenging sitting U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who has already said he will seek a third six-year term in 2026. Soter, 51, recently spoke with the Daily News, weeks after meeting with strategists in Washington, D.C. "Markey is entrenched in D.C.," he said in a recent interview at his State House office. 'I would not be in D.C. full time, I'd be on the streets of Boston, Cambridge, Worcester and Springfield,' Soter continued. 'I would be a senator working for Massachusetts in ways not seen since Ted Kennedy, and I give him a lot of credit." If he decides to run for a statewide office, Soter said his priorities would include growing the (Republican) caucus, focusing on renewable energy and housing. In particular, he said he would focus on making the state more affordable for young people. 'Get their pay early': Soter supports payday advance apps' bid to operate in Mass. 'Our young people come here, they get educated here and then they take their talent out of the state because it's not affordable,' Soter said. In addition, he would work toward getting rid of taxes on tips and Social Security. 'COVID killed our service industry," Soter said. "If we cut taxes on tips, that's an extra $2,000 in savings.' He also wants to move the state lottery online and bring businesses in such industries as manufacturing back to the state. Whether or not he ends up running, Soter already has the support of the state's Republican party. "Rep. Soter is a fantastic representative, and we're thrilled he's considering higher office," MassGOP Executive Director John Milligan wrote in an email to the Daily News. "It's a testament to the energy and momentum Massachusetts Republicans are building heading into 2026." 'Beautiful sight': Months after woman was killed, Rep. Soter installs new mailboxes on Center Street Should Markey win a third U.S. Senate term, he would be 80 when it begins on Jan. 3, 2027. The offices of lieutenant governor and state treasurer will also be on the ballot in 2026. Deborah Goldberg has been state treasurer since 2015, winning her third four-year term in November 2022. She was previously a member of the Brookline Select Board. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, elected alongside Gov. Maura Healey in 2022, has announced plans to run for reelection in 2026. She was previously Salem's mayor. Soter represents the 8th Worcester District, which includes Bellingham, Blackstone, Millville, Uxbridge and parts of Medway. He moved to Bellingham in 2005. Soter was elected to the Bellingham Select Board in 2011, serving more than seven years before resigning after he won his state rep seat in November 2018. While Massachusetts is a notably Democratic state, Soter believes he can win over Democratic voters. 'When I first ran, I got people to switch to unenrolled to vote for me,' he said. 'I believe in sitting down with people I may not agree with, but I can usually meet someone in the middle.' He continued: 'Democrat or Republican, I would represent your needs. I would say watch my actions and give me a chance and see what I can do.' This article originally appeared on The Milford Daily News: Republican state rep Michael Soter floats plans for higher office run
