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Survey: Manufacturers can't find enough skilled workers

 

(Jan. 14, 2005) Connecticut manufacturers are having difficulty finding workers with specific skills to fill positions in their firms, according to a new CBIA survey. Positions that are extremely difficult to fill include tool and die makers, CNC programmers, engineers, CAD/CAM workers, and plant managers.

 

“Overall, this shows that manufacturers do not feel as though they have a robust labor market to hire from in Connecticut,” said Lauren Weisberg Kaufman, CBIA vice president of education and job training and executive director of the CBIA Education Foundation.

CUNO needs
'first-round draft picks'

The survey results are indeed accurate: Connecticut businesses are hungry for skilled workers. “We want first-round draft choices at CUNO,” said Mark Kachur, chairman, CEO & President, CUNO Inc., at the 2005 Economic Summit & Outlook.

 

The 2004 Survey of Current and Future Manufacturing Jobs in Connecticut also revealed how manufacturers think their workforces will change over the next five years, and identified specific skills required for jobs at their companies. It also asked if manufacturers are satisfied with the quality of job candidates graduating from Connecticut educational institutions and whether they expect to increase their workforces and replace retiring employees.

“We can use this data and work with Connecticut’s educational institutions to help train workers for the manufacturing careers needed today and in the future. We can also help Connecticut manufacturers with their long- and short-term needs for skilled employees,” said Weisberg Kaufman.

 

Hiring
Eighty percent of respondents said they expect to hire more workers by 2009, due to increased sales, product innovation, or the expansion of their companies. Nearly a third of those businesses (31 percent) expect to expand their workforce by 25 percent or more within the next five years.

In addition, 72 percent said they expect to replace some of their workforce by 2009 due to employee retirements. Of those companies, seven percent expect they will replace more than half of their workforce, and another 13 percent expect to replace 25 percent to 49 percent of their workforce.

 

Long-term demand
The results showed current and continuing demand for workers in each of these 12
categories:
• tool and die makers,
• CNC programmers and technicians,
• engineers,
• CAD/CAM workers,
• technical sales staff,
• plant managers,
• production managers,
• technical trainers
• research and development staff
• welders
• technicians
• entry-level prductions workers

Currently, every one of these categories is presenting at least 19% of survey respondents with “extreme” or “very difficult” problems in filling them Most problematic are tool and die makers; CNC programmers and technicians; and engineers.

“Manufacturing continues to be a vital component in Connecticut’s economy. The continued viability of manufacturers in the state depends on a number of key factors, including the availability of a skilledworkforce today and in the future,” said Peter Gioia, CBIA economist.

 

Skills needed now and in the future
Manufacturers identified the top specific skill areas needed in their companies in the next five years. The findings in most cases mirror the needs of today. Out of 15 specific areas manufacturers said the skills most needed today are:

  • lean manufacturing (67 percent),
  • team building/problem solving (54 percent),
  • engineering (50 percent),
  • blueprint reading (50 percent), and
  • CNC programming (50 percent).


The skills most needed in five years will be:

  • lean manufacturing (61 percent),
  • blueprint reading (56 percent),
  • green technologies (54 percent),
  • team building/problem solving (52 percent), and
  • CNC programming (51 percent).

According to Karen Wosczyna Birch, director of the College of Technology’s four-year National Science Foundation grant program on next generation manufacturing, new courses will be developed in lean manufacturing, green technologies and laser training. These courses will help companies address their needs.

The majority of respondents (71 percent) provide training for their workers as well as assistance to help them transition to more senior positions within their companies. And 52 percent provide tuition reimbursement or off-site employee training and education to their workers.

 

Education satisfaction and recruitment
Business leaders expressed satisfaction with the quality of job candidates graduating from Connecticut educational institutions.

Executives were most satisfied with private, four-year colleges (87 percent rating them good or excellent). Close behind were Connecticut state universities, with 79 percent rating them good or excellent, followed by the University of Connecticut at 77 percent. Seventy-four percent of respondents rated community colleges that grant associate’s degrees good or excellent, and private occupational schools were next in employer satisfaction, with 73 percent.

Finally, community colleges granting six-month/one-year certificates were given a 62 percent good or excellent rating, and technical high schools, 62 percent.

As the statewide industry partner for the College of Technology’s next-generation manufacturing grant, CBIA is working with the community colleges, technical high schools and member companies to introduce students to the career opportunities in manufacturing and ensure that advanced programs in the two-year colleges meet the needs of tomorrow’s manufacturers.