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The Manufacturing Skills GapAn Insights Report from #ImAnEngineer
The U.S. manufacturing industry flourished in the first
half of the 20th century, promoting leaner production and
new technologies.
Every job in U.S. manufacturing creates
2.5 jobs in local goods and services.
For every $1 invested in U.S. manufacturing,
$1.37 in additional value is created
in other sectors.
Beginning in the early 2000s,
however, the manufacturing
industry began to experience
what is now being called a
“skills gap.”
The decline of apprenticeship and training programs across the
nation has widened the gap between experienced and novice
manufacturing engineers.
EXPERIENCED
ENGINEERS
Baby Boomer
generation
Vocational training
Embedded
knowledge
Hands-on training
NOVICE
ENGINEERS
Millennial
generation
Academic education
Minimal technical
proficiency
Little on-site training
A recent study of U.S. manufacturing executives
found the top three most important skills
today’s employees lack are:
TECHNICAL
AND COMPUTER
PROFICIENCY
BASIC TECHNICAL
TRAININGMATH SKILLS
From The Skills gap in U.S. Manufacturing 2015 and Beyond, Deloitte & The Manufacturing Institute, 2015
As a result, the three areas of business
manufacturing executives believe are most
affected by this talent shortage are:
MEETING CUSTOMER
DEMAND
IMPLEMENTING NEW
TECHNOLOGIES
INCREASING
PRODUCTIVITY
From The Skills gap in U.S. Manufacturing 2015 and Beyond, Deloitte & The Manufacturing Institute, 2015
For every manufacturing position that goes unfilled for three
months or longer, companies lose an average of $14,000.
The skills gap also contributes to lower moral, decreased productivity and a decline
in each employee’s quality of work.
Retirement of baby
boomers
Negative perceptions
of manufacturing
among younger
generations
Lack of STEM skills
among young workers
Decline of technical
education programs
in public high schools
Changes in federal
labor policies
The manufacturing skills gap
is the result of several social,
economic and educational
factors, including:
2 3
4 5
Those more familiar with the industry,
however, have more favorable perceptions
of manufacturing, and are twice as likely to
encourage their children to pursue a career
in it.
But familiarity won’t be enough.
While interest in STEM careers is at an all-time high in the U.S.,
apprenticeship programs fell 40 percent between 2003 and 2013.40%
Looking ahead, there is still
much work to be done.
Over the last several years, nearly $1 billion in
grants have gone to community colleges to
support the creation or expansion of
manufacturing education programs.
Another $100 million is now available to
establish apprenticeship programs.
Change, however, is on the horizon.
States are taking action to close the gap.
CALIFORNIA
Aerospace companies introduced new
training programs to fill manufacturing
jobs.
ILLINOIS
The Department of Commerce and
Economic Opportunity launched the
Accelerated Training for Manufacturing
(ATM) initiative.
NORTH CAROLINA
Siemens sent professors to Germany to
learn advanced machine tooling for new
community college programs.
WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Area Technical College and
the Wisconsin Department of Workforce
Development partnered for an Industrial
Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship.
Over the next decade, nearly
3.5 million manufacturing jobs
will need to be filled.
If employers, universities, government
agencies and engineers don’t work together
to prepare the next generation of workers,
2 million of those jobs will be unfilled
by 2025.
For more on how to close the manufacturing
skills gap, visit imanengineer.com.
From The Skills gap in U.S. Manufacturing 2015 and Beyond, Deloitte & The Manufacturing Institute, 2015
SOURCES
The Skills Gap in U.S. Manufacturing: 2015 and Beyond (Deloitte & The Manufacturing Institute)
The Skills Gap 2001 (National Association of Manufacturers)
General Electric Ideas Laboratory
White House Council of Economic Advisors
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
The Foundation of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, Intl.
U.S. Public Opinions on the Manufacturing Industry (Deloitte & The Manufacturing Institute)
Huffington Post
The Wall Street Journal
Society for Human Resource Management
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
CareerBuilder
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution
Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
U.S. Department of Commerce
Milwaukee Area Technical College
Minding the Manufacturing Gender Gap (Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute & APICS SCC)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Department of Labor