The future of the manufacturing industry is questionable at this point in time because of a glaring manufacturing skills gap in the United States. The estimates surrounding the shortage of skilled workers vary greatly, but everyone agrees this situation must be addressed. As you learn more about the manufacturing skills gap, it becomes increasingly obvious that the issues with the manufacturing industry lie with a lack of skills as well as low wages.
Skills That Manufacturing Companies Are Seeking
A skilled worker in the manufacturing sector has a high school diploma and an associate degree. Proficient workers have a good grasp of math and science, they have decent communication skills, and they are reliable. Manufacturing skills required for more advanced positions include knowledge about chemistry, physics, metallurgy, electrical wiring, pneumatics and computer coding. In all levels of manufacturing, you must have the ability to think fast and figure out what is wrong with a machine when it is not working properly. In order to gain this knowledge and reduce the manufacturing skills gap, you need to attend college or learn via on-the-job training. Additional skills needed to lessen the manufacturing skills gap include planning, problem solving, leadership, self-motivation and being detail-oriented.
The Truth About the Skills Gap
As experts in the manufacturing field study the manufacturing skills gap, they have come to realize that there is a bigger secret behind this problem. There might not be a skills gap at all. The real problem in manufacturing may be low wages. Factory managers simply cannot find skilled workers who are willing to work for $10 an hour. In economics, when something is in high demand, the price goes up. This is not the case in the manufacturing industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of skilled manufacturing jobs has fallen and so have the wages.
The Boston Consulting Group did a study that showed there are not very many areas of the country where manufacturing wages were rising, and employers were unable to fill open positions. Manufacturers are looking to hire highly skilled people, but they are only willing to pay rock-bottom wages. The study revealed that people are choosing to work somewhere else, where their skills can be utilized and their paychecks are larger. Most people do not want to spend money on a college education just to make minimum wage.
Overall, the future of the U.S. manufacturing sector looks promising if employers minimize the manufacturing skills gap by increasing employee wages and provide more training opportunities. The educational sector has been playing a huge role in creating classes to teach the manufacturing skills required to land a job in the manufacturing industry. This puts manufacturing on an upwards trend of providing jobs with wages that coordinate with the skill level of employees.
(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)
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