Following decades of downturn, American manufacturing is rebounding. Billions of federal dollars invested in the sector by both the Trump administration and previously the Biden administrations to boost manufacturing in the United States, as per a report. But there’s a surprising twist, though the jobs are here, manufacturers are having trouble finding workers to occupy them, according tp NPR.
Half a Million Factory Jobs, But No Takers
Close to 500,000 factory jobs currently exist that are not being filled, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data revealed, as per the report. Last year, the Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte surveyed over 200 manufacturing companies and found that over 65% of the firms said recruiting and retaining workers was their main business challenge, reported NPR.
Skills and Degree Needed
One of the reason manufacturers can’t hire quickly is that so many jobs today require specialized skills and not all of them on the factory floor, as per the report. Just about 2 in every 5 jobs are for hands-on production, others fall into fields like engineering, design, R&D, finance, and marketing, as per NPR. Also, unlike before, many manufacturing jobs these days actually require college degrees, according to the report.
The president and executive director of the Manufacturing Institute, Carolyn Lee highlighted that half of all open manufacturing positions demand a bachelor’s degree, however, the other half doesn’t need a degree, and yet manufacturers are having a hard time filling both types, as per NPR.
Lee shared that, “Every company we speak with is trying to hire technicians. Every single one. The challenge is that there is no one walking around on the street with these skills, and it takes one to two years to teach those skills and another one to two years to contextualize those skills to the specific plant environment,” as quoted in the report.