Built for Production Report: U.S. Manufacturers With No Paid Staff Up 6% From 2022 to 2024

Machine shops with fewer than 5 employees fell 12.8% from 2012 to 2023, and 3 phase line costs more per foot at 12 of 13 utilities that print both prices.

PORTLAND, OR, UNITED STATES, October 23, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — U.S. manufacturing businesses with no paid employees reached 421,812 in 2024, up 6.0% from 397,797 in 2022, according to Census Bureau data released September 29, 2026. The figures lead The State of the American Home Shop 2026, a new report from Built for Production, an online store for phase converters and variable frequency drives (VFDs). It adds the latest data on machines and workers, plus an original review of utility price sheets for 3 phase line.

No public data counts home or hobby shops directly. Census counts of businesses with no paid staff, which it calls nonemployers, are the closest measure. Nonemployers across all industries combined grew 7.3% over the same two years, slightly faster than manufacturing.

Census County Business Patterns shows that machine shops with fewer than 5 employees fell 12.8%, from 9,030 in 2012 to 7,877 in 2023. The two Census counts measure different things over different years, so the report presents them as separate findings, not one trend.

On machines, U.S. orders for new metalworking machinery reached $4.76 billion from January to August 2026, up 36.9% from the same months of 2025, according to AMT, the Association For Manufacturing Technology. These are new industrial machines, not the used machines most home shops buy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) producer price index for metal cutting machine tools rose 3.5% in the year to September 2026, a preliminary figure.

On people, U.S. manufacturers had 522,000 open jobs in August 2026, up from 416,000 a year earlier, according to preliminary BLS data, while factory employment rose 0.3% in the year to September. BLS expects about 30,400 openings a year for machinists and tool and die makers through 2035, most from workers retiring or changing jobs.

On power, Built for Production reviewed the line extension price sheets of 35 utilities in 23 states in October 2026. A line extension is the new line a utility runs to bring service to a building. Of the 13 utilities that print a per-foot price for both single phase and 3 phase line, 12 charge more for 3 phase. For overhead line, the median gap was 36% per foot. The other 22 price it by the job or in other ways.

Pioneer Electric Cooperative in Kansas runs the first quarter mile of single phase line at no line cost but charges for 3 phase line from the first foot. At its overhead rate of $9.50 per foot, a quarter mile of 3 phase line lists at $12,540. Colorado Springs Utilities’ 2026 standards set a 3 phase service threshold of 25 horsepower of connected 3 phase load or more than 40 kW of total load. A smaller customer can pay the estimated extra cost or, the standards say, “may add, at his own expense, an add-a-phase, roto-phase, or similar type device to obtain three-phase service.”

“No one counts home shops, but the closest numbers we have point to more people running a manufacturing business on their own,” said Josh Joseph, owner of Built for Production. “We’re starting up, and stores like mine are making it easier for people to get the stuff they need to run these home shops.”

A phase converter or a VFD runs on single phase power and makes 3 phase power for shop machines. A licensed electrician installs it and checks that the building’s electrical service can carry the load.

The Census Bureau does not recommend reading its nonemployer data as a time series and changed its methods in 2018 and 2022, so the report shows only 2022 to 2024 and treats the change as a direction, not an exact rate. The full utility table, with a source link for each utility, is available on request.

About Built for Production

Built for Production is an online store for phase converters and VFDs, built for home shops, small fabrication shops and farm shops that run 3 phase machines on single phase power. The store is new in 2026, is based in Portland, Oregon, and is run by owner Josh Joseph. Its free sizing calculator applies makers’ published sizing rules to a buyer’s machine.

Josh Joseph
Built for Production
(855) 923-2610
contact@builtforproduction.com

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