Skilled Workforce
U.S. manufacturing needs a strong technical workforce.
Manufacturers rely on the right workers with the right skills at the
right time to drive innovation, increase productivity and remain
globally competitive.
The manufacturing workforce in Washington state is
projected to increase almost 1 percent per year through 2019
(Source: Washington State Employment Security Department).
Support for, and collaboration with, the state’s higher education
system is necessary to produce the demanded workforce
needed to grow the manufacturing industry. Washington state
manufacturers attending AWB’s regional manufacturing meetings
identified the following concerns about the state’s workforce
and training system:
• It is not difficult to find entry level workers to train, but it is
difficult for small- and medium-sized businesses to keep them.
Once trained, these employees move on to larger businesses
for more pay and benefits.
• Higher-level workers, including management-level employees
and engineers, are difficult to recruit. Shortfalls in math and
critical thinking skills continue to be a challenge.
• Certifications are a positive aspect in the hiring process if they
meet businesses workforce needs. With several credentials
available, businesses need to fully understand the skills the
credential covers and the value to them as a business if they
are to accept them in their hiring practices.
• Work ethic is seriously lacking in the available pool of
workers. Businesses are finding that younger workers have
not learned it and that many unemployed workers prefer
to remain on unemployment and disability benefits than
return to work.
7 , 158
manufacturing firms
in the state of washington
258,300
total jobs in all sectors
supported by manufactured
goods exports
$77,470
average annual compensation
in manufacturing
290,000
washingtonians are employed
in manufacturing
• An industry awareness and/or image campaign would be
beneficial to the manufacturing industry in recruiting the
next generation of the manufacturing workforce.
• The training system has not kept up with the increasingly
high tech and automated manufacturing industry.
• Most retraining is done internally.
most
productive
workers in the world —
u.s. manufacturers are the
twice
as productive
as workers in the next 10 leading
manufacturing economies.