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Pete Bigelow · U.S. Manufacturers: It’s Hard To Find Skilled Workers For Open Jobs
October 14th, 2011
Fourteen million people are searching for work in the United States. Some must be qualified to fill thousands of vacant manufacturing jobs.
Right?
Not necessarily, according to Reuters, which reported Friday that U.S. manufacturers are having trouble finding qualified candidates for openings. A survey by ManpowerGroup found that 52 percent of U.S. employers are having trouble filling critical positions, a percentage that’s dramatically increased from 14 percent in 2010.
Most of the jobs employers are finding a shortage of qualified workers involve skilled trades, internet technology, engineers and machine operators, according to Reuters. American colleges are graduating fewer math and science students.
“It’s very difficult to find skilled people,” Jeff Owens, president of ATS, a manufacturing consulting company, tells the news agency. “We are creating jobs. We just don’t necessarily have the right people to fill them.”
The Reuters story echoes a Changing Gears report earlier this month that found a surge of available jobs, albeit in a temporary capacity. Temp agencies that service the manufacturing sector say they’re having trouble meeting demand for skilled workers.
Stacey Bigelow, who runs temp agency Advance Staffing Solutions in Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio, says that there’s a labor shortage.
“Our job boards are full. Every day, they’re full, “said Bigelow (no relation). “I think we’ve been pushing our kids to go to college for so many years that they’re not in these apprenticeship programs or any of these trades. So these people are very hard to find.”
