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February 2006 — Vol. 84, No. 1 CBIA surveyState manufacturers can’t fill job openingsLack of skilled workers, aging workforce and inadequately trained students entering job market are among biggest issues
Connecticut manufacturers are having trouble filling job openings because of a lack of skilled workers. And many manufacturers say the state’s aging workforce, combined with the inadequate skills of job candidates entering the workforce, will make the problem worse within the next five years. These are among the key findings of the 2005 Survey of Current and Future Manufacturing Jobs in Connecticut. CBIA conducted the survey through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the College of Technology’s Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing in Connecticut’s community colleges. The center partnered with CBIA to develop a manufacturing careers campaign, which includes the survey, a media campaign and a Web Site, all designed to attract students to manufacturing careers. “The retirement of the baby boomers and a lack of qualified job candidates are threatening the ability of manufacturers to replace skilled workers and add jobs, even as their business prospects improve,” says CBIA Economist Peter Gioia. “Businesses are having a hard time finding workers with advanced skills needed for the high-tech jobs presently available in manufacturing,” says Lauren Weisberg Kaufman, CBIA vice president of education and job training and executive director of the CBIA Education Foundation. “We must do all we can to educate and attract students to the new technologies and fields open to them to fill this critical need in the manufacturing industry.” Manufacturers said positions that are extremely difficult to fill are:
In addition, 10% said engineering positions are extremely difficult to fill, while 37% said they are very difficult to fill. Filling these positions is hard for several reasons, manufacturers said. Nearly half (49%) said recent job applicants lacked the necessary skills. Other factors included a lack of job applicants (17%), the high cost of living in the area (17%) and a lack of affordable housing (10%). Manufacturers also identified the skills that are most in demand in their companies today and will be in five years. Combining their first and second choices, the skill areas most needed today are:
Five years from now, they said they will need the same skills but with the emphasis in different areas.
The median age of U.S. manufacturing workers is 42. Connecticut’s workforce has a median age of 37.4 years, making it the nation’s seventh-oldest workforce. More than three-quarters of Connecticut manufacturers expect up to 20% of their workers to retire within five years. And 94% expect to replace at least some of their workers by 2010 due to retirements. Manufacturers also anticipate a need for more employees as their firms improve over the years by developing new products, increasing sales and expanding their companies. “Manufacturing has a strong future in Connecticut and is a good career choice for many students. There are jobs available today for skilled workers. There will be jobs available to replace the baby boomers as they retire, and there will be jobs to fill as companies expand,” says Kaufman. “Businesses need to work with educational institutions to teach the skills necessary to meet the needs of industry’s high-skill, high-demand jobs.” More than a third (37%) of manufacturers said the job-readiness skills of the high school graduates they recently hired was average. Only 16% said they were good or excellent. Fifteen percent said they were fair, while 6% said these applicants were poorly prepared to enter the job market. College graduates earned higher marks, with 23% rated either good or excellent for job readiness; 28%, average; and 23%, fair or poor. Manufacturers are taking steps to improve their employees’ skills by offering on-site training (36%) or tuition reimbursement for off-site employee training or job-related education (23%). More than a third (36%) of respondents said they would welcome the integration of job-related training programs into schools to better prepare students for the workforce. “The College of Technology is working together with the community colleges, technical high schools and the business community to make sure advanced programs are being offered that will improve job-readiness skills of college graduates,” says Karen Wosczyna-Birch, director of the College of Technology’s four-year NSF grant program on Next Generation Manufacturing. “New courses are being developed and taught in lean manufacturing, green technologies and laser training to help students get the skills needed to fill high-demand jobs in Connecticut’s manufacturing industry.” Manufacturers also said state government can help improve the quality and quantity of job candidates entering industry by:
Manufacturers said the government could help them create more jobs by reducing health care costs (52%) and government-mandated business costs (49%), and providing incentives for training (27%) and hiring (26%) new workers. “Connecticut manufacturers have positions to fill today and will in the future, but they need effective training programs to make sure there is an adequate supply of skilled people. Government must create a public-policy environment that allows manufacturers to be competitive in the global marketplace,” says Gioia.
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