The Talent Gap: Finding Skilled Workers Isn't Easy

[DPI]

Good article from Grainger no less.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a current unemployment rate of around 9%. So how is it with roughly 12.8 million people out of work, there are still so many jobs going unfilled? A recent report by Deloitte for the Manufacturing Institute which was based on a survey of manufacturers, found that as many as 600,000 jobs are going unfilled. “High unemployment is not making it easier to fill positions, particularly in the areas of skilled production and production support,” the Deloitte report found.

There is a growing talent gap between skilled jobs in the trades and trained workers to fill them. In 2011, the Manpower Talent Shortage Survey listed the skilled trades as the most difficult jobs to fill, with electricians, welders, machinists, and carpenters/joiners in highest demand.2

According to the Manpower survey, these are the top 10 most difficult positions to fill:

Skilled Trades
Engineers
IT Staff
Sales Representatives
Accounting & Finance Staff
Drivers
Mechanics
Nurses
Machinist/Machine Operators
Teachers
Why the Shortage?
The availability of technical training in the skilled trades has significantly declined over the past few decades. Fewer high schools offer vocational or technical programs due to low demand. Kids just aren’t interested in becoming plumbers, electricians and machinists anymore. The manufacturing industry continues to battle an image problem with respect to jobs. There’s a perception that a lot of manufacturing jobs end up overseas. Those jobs that don’t go overseas are considered low-wage, blue collar, factory-type jobs and are often undesirable. Because our schools (and probably parents to some extent) continue to steer youth away from the skilled trades, a four-year college degree remains the preferred career path for most high school students. Making the problem even worse, demographics are changing too, as skilled baby boomers are entering retirement. Workers in mid-career or those who have been laid off and are looking for work may not be adequately trained to program today’s more sophisticated factory equipment.

There’s Pride in the Trades
It takes a special person to be able to learn and understand the complex and technical nature of most skilled trades. To be a plumber, electrician, carpenter, mechanic or machinist requires attention to detail, sheer smarts and hard work. These are honorable professions that don’t deserve the negative stigma that seems to persist. Wages for electricians and plumbers are respectable too. The average salary for a plumber, according to a current salary report on Indeed.com is $42,000. For an electrician it’s $47,000. A journeyman machinist can earn up to $49,000. And if the number of jobs for these skills continues to outpace available candidates, you can expect these averages to go up. If you choose to work as an apprentice, you can start earning a living right away as you learn your trade.

We Need People with Skills
Maybe we should start with a PR campaign in every high school in the United States promoting the skilled trades. Companies who rely on these skills should invest in actively recruiting at the high-school level and in vocational schools and community colleges with kids enrolled in these programs. Let’s face it. College isn’t for everyone, and it’s expensive. According to ConsumersReport.org, the average college graduate has over $22,000 in college loan debt. But it can easily climb higher depending on your choice of college and degree. This is not to say that a college education is a bad choice, instead, it’s a reminder that there are other options. If we don’t start preparing more people with these skills, we’re going to face a lot of challenges ahead. The U.S. infrastructure—aviation, roads, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy supply, railroads, mass transit, schools, parks and recreation, and so forth—all of this needs skilled workers to maintain it. These jobs will not go overseas. In manufacturing, today’s automated factories need workers who can not only operate computerized equipment, but can also program and maintain it. Many of those looking for work need more skills training to fill the growing number of these manufacturing jobs.

Hard Work Is Good
In addition to the economy, our high unemployment rate can also be attributed to our talent supply. There are clearly jobs available, but not enough skilled workers to fill them. This talent gap will continue to grow if we don’t do anything about it. We can start by working to change the stigma attached to the skilled trades and hard work. Getting your hands dirty isn’t a bad thing. Mike Rowe, host of the TLC show “Dirty Jobs” and champion for skilled workers in the United States, is dedicated to reinvigorating the image of the skilled trades. His mission statement: “Work is not the Enemy” is the theme to his website, mikeroweWORKS.com, a community dedicated to skilled labor.

What Can You Do?
The next time someone suggests to you that a career in manufacturing or a skilled trade is a bad choice, challenge them. Hard work and skill is honorable, and the U.S. needs more people who have the aptitude, ability and willingness to work in these respected fields. Today’s manufacturing jobs are not simply dirty, dangerous, low-wage jobs. Manufacturing equipment has become much more sophisticated. People filling these jobs have to know how to operate highly technical equipment. They have to know how to cut steel with lasers, water jets and plasma cutters. They have to program robots how to paint, package and palletize products. These types of jobs require computer programming and other high-tech skills, which seems to be what younger people look for in today’s job market.

 

[aviator41]

From an IT standpoint, I can tell you that finding talented employees is always a challenge. They are hard to find, hard to keep.

Those that work hard, understand their trade and know their worth command a pretty penny. I would rather have a member of my IT staff with a few years of real world experience than a college grad fresh out of school.

Hint: the guy with a couple years under his belt is ALWAYS worth more. The guy with the degree is not necessarily worth more on the merits of his degree alone. I've fired a guy holding a bachelors in programming because he couldn't write a simple C# program to read the contents of a directory.

All my applicants are tested before I will even consider an interview unless I am hiring for an entry level position. My most successfull candidates are those that have to give 2 weeks notice at the CURRENT job in order to start working on my team. they usually stay the longest and are paid the best too.

 

[Mgarza_a]

I employ both mechanics and tradesmen. Both are becoming increasingly hard to fill. I've tried everything from apprenticing to outright recruiting from competition. Part of the problem I've seen regarding a skilled trade apprentice is the unwillingness to work at the craft. Most of the younger kids believe they should make $50K with 3 months experience and limited knowledge.

The ability to pay to keep good help also depends on the customer. It seems more and more customers are unwilling to pay for quality work.

 

[Hobbes]

I work at a technology center, they used to call it a vo-tech.

I can tell you for sure that even high school kids that get their electricians license can start off making a pretty good wage.

The most popular programs the last few years have been in the medical field. Nursing and dental mostly.
It's a really good way to get started and get into the field making decent money for a limited amount of education investment.
If later the desire to achieve an advanced degree is there it's easy to build on that and go back to school again.

I see a lot of smart and motivated high school kids taking advantage of the opportunity because their parents can't afford to send them to a 4yr school.
Admittedly I am probably biased but I read of some politicians wanting to cut back on vo-tech programs and I think it's a big mistake.

 

[tim003]

DPI, thanks for the good article.

This article is so true and it becomes reality. My employer has been looking for CNC machinists for a couple years and they are very hard to find the decent ones and now they are talking about needing over 40 machinists to keep the shop run 24/7 to keep up with the production demands, it is going to be a challenge task.

IMHO, the majority of the younger generation today don't like to get their hands dirty and they all think they are entitled to everything in this world.

 

[aviator41]

I work at a technology center, they used to call it a vo-tech.

I can tell you for sure that even high school kids that get their electricians license can start off making a pretty good wage.

The most popular programs the last few years have been in the medical field. Nursing and dental mostly.
It's a really good way to get started and get into the field making decent money for a limited amount of education investment.
If later the desire to achieve an advanced degree is there it's easy to build on that and go back to school again.

I see a lot of smart and motivated high school kids taking advantage of the opportunity because their parents can't afford to send them to a 4yr school.
Admittedly I am probably biased but I read of some politicians wanting to cut back on vo-tech programs and I think it's a big mistake.

Agreed. this is a BIG mistake. I would absolutely oppose any legislation that would affect funding.

 

[kennedy]

I agree, I'm a cnc machinist and finding quality ones are few and far between. Most end up being just button pushers and are no where near a machinist. It takes a long time to learn this trade and most aren't willing to put in the work. Our company is hiring frantically and we get lucky every once in a while.

 

[338Shooter]

You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

 

[tim003]

I agree, I'm a cnc machinist and finding quality ones are few and far between. Most end up being just button pushers and are no where near a machinist. It takes a long time to learn this trade and most aren't willing to put in the work. Our company is hiring frantically and we get lucky every once in a while.

30 percent of our machinists are mediocre and 20 percent are button pushers, and I think the skill level will just goes downhill from now on.

 

[338Shooter]

I agree, I'm a cnc machinist and finding quality ones are few and far between. Most end up being just button pushers and are no where near a machinist. It takes a long time to learn this trade and most aren't willing to put in the work. Our company is hiring frantically and we get lucky every once in a while.

How much are they paying? I can program a CNC lathe and run manual mill/lathe. :-)