Government Provides Boost for Much-Needed Industry-Critical Skills

[Jon Katz]

One of the reasons manufacturers have struggled to find skilled labor these days is the lack of available candidates with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In a previous posting (http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=1423)I talked about how the United States’ failure to produce students with these skills could lead to more outsourcing and a competitive disadvantage for domestic manufacturers.

Apparently, the U.S. Department of Labor also is taking notice of this situation with its announcement on Jan. 15 that it has developed a two-phase competition to help workforce investment boards’ capacity to support careers in these fields. The Labor Department is offering a $10 million grant competition to local workforce investment boards, which can submit proposals on behalf of multicounty regions that represent various workforce investment areas.

The Labor Department expects to award the funds in the fall of 2008 after a two-stage process. For more information about the process, click here (http://www.workforce3one.org/public/webinars/details.cfm?id=266).

The move comes at a time when only 5% of the nation’s workforce is employed in what the federal government refers to as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-related industries. The Labor Department seems to support my earlier comments about the lack of these critical skills, stating that “there is growing concern about losing potential U.S. workers for these high-quality skills.”

I’ve heard a lot of industry experts talk about how lean manufacturing and other industry concepts need to be taught in high school, junior high and even elementary school to attract the workforce of tomorrow. It seems the bigger priority, though, is making sure students can understand how to add, subtract and multiply before we can even think about introducing lean into curricula.

[Bill]

It continues to amaze me that "government and industry" cannot figure out why so few choose to pursue careers in technical fields when they are the root cause of the problem!

The former does little to support high school graduates who want to do so but who cannot afford the mountain of debt they'll incur in getting that diploma.

The latter does everything it can to "cut and gut" those currently employed in these fields, via continuous outsourcing to third world countries, sending a clear signal to anyone with a brain to go into anything but these fields.

The moral of the story ...."As ye sow so shall ye reap".........

Bill

[strout0123]

Did I miss something? Was this comment supposed to be on the joke page?

What can someone with these "much needed" skills look forward to? Modest pay when actually working, layoffs, out-sourcing, moving all over the country (globe?) to keep working, limited or nonexistent chance for advancement. That doesn’t sound very rosy to me.

If I were younger, I would change careers. If I were advising a young person, I would tell them to look elsewhere. Find a job in an area where your skills will be valued over the long term, not intermittently.

I think that every once in a while comments like this get made to suck a few more unsuspecting souls into the system to replace the ones who have left. But there is no meat behind the rhetoric.

These days, there is a shortage of nurses. But look at how they are treated. Employers are bending over backwards to find them and keep them, with a wonderful array of inducements. It is a wonderful time to be a nurse. Just saying there is a shortage of “techies” and hoping it entices people into a career with lousy prospects isn’t the same thing.

[Jon Katz]

Did I miss something? Was this comment supposed to be on the joke page?

What can someone with these "much needed" skills look forward to? Modest pay when actually working, layoffs, out-sourcing, moving all over the country (globe?) to keep working, limited or nonexistent chance for advancement. That doesn’t sound very rosy to me.

If I were younger, I would change careers. If I were advising a young person, I would tell them to look elsewhere. Find a job in an area where your skills will be valued over the long term, not intermittently.

I think that every once in a while comments like this get made to suck a few more unsuspecting souls into the system to replace the ones who have left. But there is no meat behind the rhetoric.

These days, there is a shortage of nurses. But look at how they are treated. Employers are bending over backwards to find them and keep them, with a wonderful array of inducements. It is a wonderful time to be a nurse. Just saying there is a shortage of “techies” and hoping it entices people into a career with lousy prospects isn’t the same thing.

I've raised similar questions about the perceived skills shortage in previous posts (http://forums.industryweek.com/showthread.php?t=1165). While I can't say for certain whether the shortage is as bad as the industry claims, I do know that the companies that are hiring require more advanced skills than ever before. This is true in almost every profession today. The fact remains that if manufacturing is going to survive in the United States it means U.S. workers will need skills that employers can't as easily obtain in China, India or Mexico.

[Bill]

The fact remains that if manufacturing is going to survive in the United States it means U.S. workers will need skills that employers can't as easily obtain in China, India or Mexico.

Jon,

I couldn't agree more with your statement above, unfortunately.....

Are manufacturers going to treat those who chose to gain such skills with respect, a decent wage and benefits, and as a long term valued member of the company or will they continue down the path of self destruction by insisting that only those who are willing to work for pay not much better than flipping burgers, without benefits, and with the threat of "downsizing/outsourcing/plant closures" hanging over their heads, can expect to be employed?

Unlike an "infamous" fast food chain, U.S. manufacturer's cannot have it "their" way and expect today's youth to respond enthusiastically to the call.

[Jon Katz]

Are manufacturers going to treat those who chose to gain such skills with respect, a decent wage and benefits, and as a long term valued member of the company or will they continue down the path of self destruction by insisting that only those who are willing to work for pay not much better than flipping burgers, without benefits, and with the threat of "downsizing/outsourcing/plant closures" hanging over their heads, can expect to be employed?

Unlike an "infamous" fast food chain, U.S. manufacturer's cannot have it "their" way and expect today's youth to respond enthusiastically to the call.

Bill,

I think if you look at the wages and benefits that manufacturers provide their employees in the U.S. they are much better than those "burger-flipping" jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm), the median hourly wage for production employees in 2006 was $13.16. Median wages for food preparation and serving-related occupations was $7.90 during the same year. In fact, many people have cited high wages and unrealistic benefits as major reasons the U.S. auto industry has struggled to remain competitive.

[Abogle]

In fact, many people have cited high wages and unrealistic benefits as major reasons the U.S. auto industry has struggled to remain competitive.


This is incorrect. The Japanese and Europeans pay autoworkers wages very similar to US auto workers - the eurpoeans generally pay more. The real reason for detroit's woes is poor management decisions on product mix and marketing, fuel efficiency, quality and technology coupled with decades of bad economic and trade policy from the govt.

I agree with the above that the so called "shortage" of skilled workers is a myth, if not an outright lie. Coprorations are doing little if next to nothing to create demand for skilled workers - when manufacturing news is dominated by plant closures and job outsorucing.

I am still waiting to hear just what skills are allegedly short that can not be filled by the 3.5 million un and under employed manufacturing workers of all color collars and skill levels, and the 350,000 plus tech gradutates vying for the approx 140,000 tech job openings? (per a recent Lou dobbs program)

Supply of skilled workers does not create a demand for them. demand for skilled workers encourages people to pursue these careers. Who wants to spend 5 years of their lives and thousands of dollars for the next job to be shipped off to India?

[Abogle]

I recently read in a business magazine that Michigan has the highest per capita concentration of engineers and skilled workers. yet Michigan also has the highest unemployement rate in the country.

Many many un and under employed skilled and educated workers in Michigan and the surrounding states as manufacturing continues to retract in the great lakes region.

Its really tough to feel sorry for whiny employers who have abandoned skilled employee and infrastructure rich regions and relocated to poor rural states and third world countries complaining about lack of skilled workers.