Commentary: Finding Skilled Workers Calls for Collaboration
Industry experts predict that while manufacturing employers will need to fill nearly 3.5 million jobs by 2025, as many as 2 million of those could go unfilled because of the inability to find skilled workers that match employers’ needs.
Solving this problem is not a simple prospect. Despite the best of efforts, there has been a persistent inability to “sync the signals” between companies and educators. Far too often, companies are advancing their technology, processes and job functions, but they are not signaling what competencies they need to those who train workers—community colleges, universities and local workforce training programs. When companies are communicating, those training entities often aren’t making needed adjustments.
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A recent study by Wisconsin’s NEW Manufacturing Alliance found the average age of production workers in manufacturing plants in northeastern Wisconsin is 43, and the average age of engineers in those businesses is 40.Over a third of workers in those businesses surveyed are 56 or older.
Source: Manitowac Herald Times Reporter |
This can be fixed. One model that has proven effective is the Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) program. Developed by Toyota, it’s now being shared with more than 300 other companies in conjunction with the Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education.
AMT, which currently works with 22 colleges in nine states, offers participants an opportunity to gain work experience while attending college, spending two days each week in the classroom and three days on the job. While in the program, participants learn the skills and competencies employers need, increasing their job prospects exponentially. In fact, nearly 100 percent of graduates are placed into full-time positions.
The essential ingredient to these types of successful models is collaboration. It’s critical that manufacturers work with local colleges and workforce training agencies to close the gap between when a company needs certain competencies and when training programs are graduating workers who have those competencies. Done effectively, with the right mix of public and private partners, they help manufacturers reduce job vacancies and first-year turnover, increase workforcediversity, and provide greater advancement for their workers from entry-level to middle-skill jobs. For workers, that means a pathway to a well-paying career.
Source: The Hill