How to fill the skills gap

Finding and hiring manufacturing employees in today’s job market is difficult at best. Just getting someone to submit a resume is difficult, let alone getting someone who has some relevant experience. Add machining, welding or programming to the list of skills required by applicants, and the search starts to approach impossible.

Demand for qualified people continues to outpace supply, leaving many companies with an abnormal number of open positions. No question that the workforce shortage is a multifaceted problem, but the underlying issue is that this country simply does not create enough skilled people to fill the demand because our society does not appreciate the value of craftspeople.

We have to change the way this country views careers in manufacturing. Toward that end, there is good news: There are steps we can take to change America’s perception of manufacturing careers. To fully appreciate the impact these steps could make, however, let’s first recap how we got to this point.

How We Got Here

Sometime in the early 1980s, in the quest to maximize profit through cost reductions, American manufacturers began offshoring work to so-called low-cost countries. Offshoring activities meant that companies needed fewer toolmakers, machinists and skilled assemblers. Naturally, the demand for skilled craftspeople declined. At that time, there were still many skilled folks in the job market, which helps explain why the need to educate future craftspeople was not apparent. As the demand for skills flattened, the cost of apprenticeships and other training programs could not be justified. Without sufficient demand, vocational education programs and apprenticeship opportunities dwindled.

The government needs to provide facilities and teachers for a basic curriculum that teaches math and technology skills in a classroom setting. A Cutting Tool Engineering image

Compounding the impact of offshoring was a societal belief that everyone must go to college if they are to be upwardly mobile in our economy. Universities, politicians, the educational system and hiring requirements all contributed to the misguided notion that college is the best pathway to success.

Universities publish self-serving data about graduates’ earning potential that leads to debt that can smother them for years. Politicians promote college-for-all platforms and present them as the foundation for a utopian society. High schools have closed vocational programs where students are introduced to the trades. Instead, schools have opted to focus on test scores and college acceptance rates.