Learn more at ImAnEngineer.com

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