Is There A Skill Gap?

A report released by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says the skills gap is not a serious problem short-term and won’t prevent a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing, Industry Week reports. The report, titled “The U.S. Skills Gap: Could It Threaten a Manufacturing Renaissance,” says that the skill shortages that manufacturers face are a result of supply-demand imbalances in specific jobs and locales.

Moreover, only seven states report “significant” or “severe” gaps, and six of those states are in the bottom quartile of U.S. manufacturing output, according to the report.

“Our research finds little evidence of a meaningful and persistent skills gap in most parts of the U.S., including in its most important manufacturing zones,” BCG states the report. “The real problem is that companies have become too passive in recruiting and developing skilled workers at a time when the U.S. education system has moved away from a focus on manufacturing skills in order to put greater emphasis on other capabilities.”

Harold Sirkin, a senior partner with Boston Consulting Group and coauthor of the report, said there are several reasons for the disconnect in manufacturers’ perceptions about the skills gap.

“Quite often, the skilled workers are available, just not at a price employers are willing to pay, or companies do not bother to recruit at community colleges and vocational schools,” Sirkin said. “In other instances, experienced skilled workers with good academic training are available, sometimes in-house, but companies are unwilling to invest the time and money to train these workers to use new technologies or specific machines.”

The Boston Consulting Group’s report on the U.S. skills gap can be downloaded at bcgperspectives.com.