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Manufacturers in all industries face a potentially paralyzing reality: 600,000 unfilled jobs by 2025. These jobs require education and training in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). What’s more, according to SME Education Foundation, 69 percent of companies believe the shortage of skilled workers will get even worse.
So why the drastic deficit? Retiring baby boomers make up part of the decline. But the disheartening reason is that too few young people are entering skilled trade and degreed STEM fields. Why? Because we, the parents, have told them that manufacturing is manual, dirty and dangerous work. How wrong we are! Today’s manufacturing facilities contain some of the most highly technical and innovative technology found anywhere.
To help improve the image of manufacturing and educate young people about exciting careers in the field, companies are taking action. They’re partnering with educational institutions, and providing the money and equipment required to train students. They’re welcoming young people – and their parents – into their plants to show off the clean and high-tech environments. They’re training their own employees on the latest technology used to manufacture goods, large and small. They’re working with organizations like the SME Education Foundation to offer scholarships to students entering the STEM fields, and to provide manufacturing and engineering curriculum to high schools across the country. The list goes on.
As technology within our world-class manufacturing facilities evolves, so must those who use it. Fear not: Jobs in manufacturing are not being replaced by machines. Workers are being redeployed to jobs that require different skills sets.
If you believe in manufacturing and its uplifting effect on our economy, I invite you to actively support STEM education. While you’re at it, do as I did in the headline: add the A – which stands for arts. Why? Because the performing and visual arts could use some lovin’, too. Plus, students who participate in the arts are statistically proven to become the brightest and most well-rounded employees.