The the manufacturing sector continued to shed jobs in October, bringing the number of job losses to 78,000 over the past three months.

The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday job report for October, which found that the manufacturing sector lost 46,000 jobs last month, according to the agency’s preliminary analysis.

This followed a loss of 6,000 jobs in September, which is also a preliminary figure, as well as a drop of 26,000 jobs in August.

Manufacturing job losses in September included a drop of 44,000 in the transportation equipment manufacturing industry due to strike activity. This can be partially attributed to the ongoing strike of approximately 33,000 union machinists at Boeing.

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The manufacturing sector has experienced a decline in employment in recent months. (Photo: Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

The International Association of Machinists and Aeronautical Workers (IAM) began its strike on September 13 and previously rejected new contract offers from Boeing amid the impasse, although the company extended a new offer to the union late Thursday, which is under review .

The The Boeing strike it also affected the aerospace giant’s supply chain, prompting some of its suppliers, such as Spirit Aero, to temporarily lay off workers while the work stoppage affects operations.

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Boeing machinists have been on strike since mid-September, though the company offered the union a new and improved contract proposal on Thursday. (M. Scott Brauer/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

A strike of less than 5,000 IAM machinists at aviation and aerospace Contractor Textron has also cut manufacturing employment numbers. The Textron strike began on September 23rd and ended on October 21st, meaning it also affected manufacturing employment numbers.

The manufacturing sector has struggled to create jobs over the past year and fell by 85,000 jobs, or 0.7 percent, in the past six months and by 50,000 jobs, or 0.4 percent, in the last 12 months.

The sector’s best month of job creation in the past 12 months was a gain of 25,000 jobs in November 2023, which was followed by an increase of 12,000 jobs the following month in December.

In 2024, the last monthly manufacturing job gain came in July, when it rose by 6,000 jobs. The biggest monthly gain this year was in April, when 7,000 jobs were added.

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The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has called for the next administration and Congress to restore tax incentives for capital investments in expanding or upgrading facilities and equipment, as well as relaxing regulations that can be costly to implement.

NAM also called on lawmakers to provide the industry with certainty by avoiding a “fiscal armageddon” next year, which will occur when a number of provisions in the 2017 tax law, known as The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is due to expire.

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“There’s a lot of talk right now on both sides of the aisle, frankly, about the possibility of raising taxes on manufacturers, taxes on businesses,” NAM CEO Jay Timmons told FOX Business this summer. “That’s not going to help us. You know, that’s not going to help us grow. That’s not going to help our economy grow. And it’s certainly not going to help our leadership.”

Edward Lawrence of FOX Business contributed to this report.