Keeping America Competitive: How a Talent Shortage Threatens U.S. Manufacturing

A Forum — April 25, 2003

Background

The National Association of Manufacturers is the nation’s largest industrial trade association. NAM represents 14,000 members (including 10,000 small and mid-sized companies) and 350 member associations serving manufacturers and employees in every industrial sector and all 50 states. According to NAM, there is a serious shortage of highly skilled employees. In The Skills Gap: Manufacturers Confront Persistent Skill Shortages in an Uncertain Economy, it was revealed that more than 80 percent of surveyed manufacturers are currently experiencing a moderate to severe shortage of qualified job applicants. As the Baby Boom generation retires over the next 15 to 20 years, there will be a need for 10 million additional skilled workers by 2020. This looming shortage of qualified workers could seriously undercut manufacturing competitiveness and consequently weaken the U.S. economy. A new study, Keeping America Competitive: How a Talent Shortage Threatens U.S. Manufacturing, finds that the shortage is created in part by the negative and inaccurate perceptions that young people, their parents, and school counselors have of careers in manufacturing. The study also finds that young people are not receiving the type of educational experiences that would help them acquire the skill sets needed for a career in manufacturing.

At this forum, a representative from NAM discussed the study’s findings and NAM’s campaign to attract young people to careers in manufacturing. In addition, two individuals active in recruiting young people to careers in manufacturing spoke about the industry’s efforts to attract and train skilled workers.

Forum Summary

Phyllis Eisen, Executive Director of the Center for Workforce Success at the National Association of Manufacturers, described the primary findings of Keeping America Competitive. First, youth surveyed had a particular vision of a career in manufacturing, one that is at odds with their aspirations. When imagining a career in manufacturing, they envisioned robots working on an assembly line. Manufacturing was regarded as a dark, dreary, and dead-end field offering low pay and few, if any, benefits. Manufacturing itself was seen as a field in decline, with jobs moving overseas. In contrast, they described the type of career they desired as one in which they would have the opportunity to engage in creative, emotionally, and financially rewarding work, in a prestigious profession that offers plentiful opportunities to climb the career ladder. In short, they didn’t see manufacturing as offering the type of career they hoped to have.

Second, the study found that schools are not providing students with career guidance that would lead them to choose a career in manufacturing. Guidance counselors do not have an accurate picture of the types of skills and training that students need for careers. Students get little guidance beyond help in applying to college; they are not being given information about the courses they need to take to be prepared for careers as engineers or designers. The manufacturing sector and the education system have not shared information about the many opportunities available to today’s young people in manufacturing careers. The full study as well as an executive summary is available online at www.nam.org/careers.

Given these findings, NAM has launched a ten-year-long initiative called the Campaign for Growth and Manufacturing Renewal to promote the perception of manufacturing careers as a preferred career option through an integrated public awareness, career-planning, and public education campaign. The goal of the campaign is that, by the end of the decade, young people will regard manufacturing as a highly-prized career.

Rito Martinez, the Intel Workforce Development and College Recruiting Manager in Colorado, works with two-year technical schools and colleges to develop a viable local workforce to meet the needs of the local electronics industry. According to Mr. Martinez, Intel and other high tech companies will need employees, who are technically trained in a variety of disciplines and well-grounded in math, science, business principles, and computer skills; who can work and communicate with others individually and in teams across functional and cultural boundaries; and who are willing to work hard in order to excel. Currently, there is a shortage of PhDs and Master’s students, particularly females and minorities, who have the desired skill sets. To attract the needed candidates, Intel has focused on the pipeline that can produce the desired individuals, namely, two-year degree programs. The organization has developed partnerships with community and technical colleges in specific communities and has found that this is the most cost-effective way to recruit new employees with the desired skill sets. However, while traditional two-year degree programs are an important source of employees for manufacturing careers, some programs are dying out or are not producing the desired candidates due to budget cuts, negative perceptions of industry, a cultural bias against two-year degrees, and lack of awareness of satisfying career opportunities available to graduates of two-year programs.

Martinez offered the following recommendations to policymakers: 1) Keep in mind that the new economy does not eliminate the need for basic education, the skills sets required in manufacturing careers build upon rather than replace basic skill sets acquired in K-12 schooling; 2) workers need to be able to adapt to change and be lifelong learners if manufacturing is to be competitive in the global marketplace; 3) education in math and science should be enhanced, and we must increase the use of technology in K-12 schooling to prepare youth for the careers available now and in the future; and 4) we must develop a skilled workforce that reflects the diversity of our communities.

Tom Heywood, Education Outreach Coordinator at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, works to increase collaboration between K-12 career education, post-secondary education, and industry workforce development. He supports initiatives that encourage K-12 students to pursue education in math, science, and technology, with the goal of preparing a skilled workforce to meet industry’s projected needs. In his talk, Heywood addressed the perceptions that young people, their parents, and their counselors have of careers in manufacturing. His findings support those reported in NAM’s recent study; he has found that school counselors, students, and parents have an out-of-date perception of careers in manufacturing. He has also found that educators and counselors have a bias that leads them to direct youth toward four-year degrees and to not view career education as a priority. Many educators lack information and resources needed to direct youth to satisfying careers in manufacturing, and they often do not know what to do with students who do not want a four-year college degree right after high school. Consequently, youth are not being directed in manufacturing careers.

Locating workforce development personnel within the community college provides a useful means of bridging the gap between education and manufacturing. For instance, in his position, Heywood has been able to hold a workshop for school counselors that gave them an opportunity to visit the manufacturing workplace and change their perception of careers in manufacturing. Consequently, counselors will be better positioned to direct youth to these careers. Heywood recommended that future and current teachers be given training so that they can then help students make informed decisions about careers and the educational prerequisites of various careers.

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