Lack of Quality Labor Remains Biggest Woe For U.S. Manufacturers

Despite anxieties being cause by tariffs, higher interest rates and gyrating stock markets, U.S. manufacturers still can’t find enough workers amid record-high employment levels in most places in America.
Despite anxieties being cause by tariffs, higher interest rates and gyrating stock markets, U.S. manufacturers still can’t find enough workers amid record-high employment levels in most places in America.

Despite anxieties being cause by tariffs, higher interest rates and gyrating stock markets, U.S. manufacturers still can’t find enough workers amid record-high employment levels in most places in America.Despite anxieties being cause by tariffs, higher interest rates and gyrating stock markets, U.S. manufacturers still can’t find enough workers amid record-high employment levels in most places in America.

And it’s the biggest black mark on levels of optimism that remain high even in the face of all of these obstacles: More than one in four U.S. manufacturers have to turn down new-business opportunities because of the inability to attract a quality workforce, according to the most recent quarterly survey by the National Association of Manufacturers.

It remained the top concern of manufacturers – expressed by 68 percent, outranking increased raw-material costs and trade uncertainties. There are 522,000 open manufacturing jobs in the United States, a record high, NAM said. And a new report from NAM’s social-impact arm, the Manufacturing Institute, and Deloitte projected that 2.4 million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled over the next decade.

CEOs are attempting to get more traction in hiring in a variety of ways.

Gregory Owens, for instance, CEO of Liberty Tabletop in Sherrill, New York, is tapping into more local and state apprenticeship programs for hiring into the maker of tableware.

“One big challenge when we have to hire someone who is green as grass is that their productivity is next to nothing at the beginning,” Owens said. Apprenticeships “help us hire people at one [lower] rate and as they progress forward, six months to a year from now, when they’re up to speed we can give them benchmarks and targets. It doesn’t kill you financially when they’re not at a productive level out of the blocks.”

Max McIntyre takes advantage of the advanced-manufacturing training that’s increasingly being offered by community colleges. Last spring, for example, on a recruiting visit to a local college, he spoke to about 50 students about the company of which he is a vice president, New England Airfoil Products, a maker of gas-turbine products in Farmington, Connecticut.

“A lot of them weren’t kids,” he said. “Some were changing careers. I got several interviews out of that for machine operators, quality inspectors and metrology people.”

Emerson Electric, a major diversified manufacturer based in St. Louis, has improved its own family-leave program while the federal government dithers with the possibility of requiring companies to do so.

Another potential avenue? Buying a company that has the talent your looking for. This is a strategy being followed by more CEOs, including Rob Hrabe, chief and co-founder of VRC Metal Systems, a Rapid City, South Dakota-based manufacturer that has been trailblazing a cutting-edge “cold-spray” welding technique. He wants to push the $18-million company to a $100-million enterprise within the next five years, but he needs much more engineering talent to do it.

“So we’re actually going after acquisitions just because of the senior engineering talent they have in thermal-spray [welding] and other industries,” Hrabe says.

Read more: What It Means When Amazon Looks Past ‘Flyover Country’


MORE LIKE THIS

  • Get the CEO Briefing

    Sign up today to get weekly access to the latest issues affecting CEOs in every industry
  • upcoming events

    Roundtable

    Strategic Planning Workshop

    1:00 - 5:00 pm

    We are in a period of rapid change. Customer needs, technologies, competitors and internal capabilities require companies to review and update their strategies for the new realities. In this workshop, strategy experts Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison will show you a systematic approach to strategic planning to help you refine or redefine your business strategy and approach including:

    • Learn what you need to know to develop an effective strategic plan. Put the right players on the strategic planning team.
    • Develop strategies that leverage your company’s unique position in the marketplace. Lift your management team beyond “business as usual” thought processes and activities.
    • Translate your strategies into action. Achieve your vision for success and generate superior financial results.
    • Identify exactly what you need to do now to position your company for future success.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    New York, NY: ​​​Chief Executive's Corporate Citizenship Awards 2017

    Women in Leadership Seminar and Peer Discussion

    2:00 - 5:00 pm

    Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations. 

    Limited space available.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $495 will be added to your total.

    Golf Outing

    10:30 - 5:00 pm
    General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
    Sponsored by UBS

    General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.

    The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $295 will be added to your total.