American manufacturing needs skilled workers

Many Americans may think that manufacturing is a dying industry, no longer the backbone of America’s economy. But manufacturing employment has accounted for many of the nonfarm payroll jobs created since December 2009 – almost 15 percent of them.

And though only about a tenth of the nation’s total workforce is in manufacturing, recent productivity numbers show manufacturing output per hour is strongly improving – up by 6.3 percent in just the first quarter of this year.

Manufacturing remains at the heart of American innovation. But there’s a crisis looming: Manufacturers can only sustain such high productivity figures by continuing to develop the sector’s current and future workforce. It’s getting harder and harder to find qualified recruits for today’s advanced manufacturing jobs. And if America is to hold onto its cutting edge in skilled manufacturing and innovation, it must train a workforce for the 21st century.

You would think that with 13.9 million unemployed Americans, employers would have their pick of candidates. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Many of those laid off – especially from high-volume assembly manufacturing jobs – do not have the skills needed in today’s modern plant. Like generations before them, they worked “on the line,” repeating the same action over and over again. But those types of repetitive assembly jobs are disappearing and are not likely to return.

Today, the industry needs workers who have the skill to process parts, program and maintain highly sophisticated multitasking machines, and understand how to improve their performance. They need to be problem solvers.

For instance, a person who is making the titanium orthopedic part for a knee replacement needs these skills to produce the part with the precision and quality that will meet FDA standards and last the patient’s lifetime. At the same time, a worker has to be continually on the lookout for the company’s profitability.

Despite the crucial role manufacturing plays in our country, we face a serious risk of not being able to continue making things. In the coming decade, a critical shortage of skilled workers will collide with the retirement of 2.7 million baby boomers from manufacturing jobs. Without a skilled, educated labor pool, US manufacturing cannot compete globally. Without a competitive manufacturing sector, our economy is without an engine to power its recovery.

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