College, or Six-Figure Salary?

Out of a job.  Can’t find a job.  Over employed.  Under pressure.

If you’re a young person, perhaps a recent college graduate, one or some of those descriptors may fit you. And the rest of us who worry about our sons, daughters, grandkids, nieces and nephews know the dilemma: jobs are really, really hard to find.

Know who’s really frustrated?

Manufacturers.

American manufacturers are frustrated because, says a report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, they had as many as 600,000 jobs that went unfilled last year.

Jobs that offer good salaries. In high-tech environments. Making neat things.

So, why weren’t those jobs filled?

Basically, they can’t find enough skilled workers. Make that, they can’t find enough skilled and interested job candidates.

This story in the National Review s a short backgrounder on a big contradiction in our economy.  

We’re still churning out tons of college graduates each year who earn degrees and, for many, a complementary trip back home to live with Mom and Dad for a prolonged job search.

They’re qualified for lots of things, but not for what's available in the job market . Meanwhile, the grads lack the basic tools they could be using to launch lucrative careers.

Almost half of U.S. manufacturers are looking to hire now, according to ThomasNet, but 67% are facing a shortage of skilled workers.

“There’s such a focus on … kids going to school,” says Linda Rigano, a ThomasNet spokesperson. “Not every kid is meant to go to college.”

And by the way, she adds, manufacturing companies “are paying six figures.”

We have been telling Connecticut high school students for years about the value of considering a career in manufacturing.

And we’ve been touting the enormous potential that manufacturers offer Connecticut’s economy.

Many CBIA members are manufacturing companies, large and small, who do amazing things and offer varied and challenging careers.

We will continue to work with young people—and, just as important, their parents—to convince them of the possibilities of manufacturing.

It’s the key to their, and our state’s, future.