January 2006 - Gaping at the Skills Gap

By Anthony J. Lockwood

The 2005 Skills Gap Report—A Survey of the American Manufacturing Workforce from the National Association of Manufacturers and Deloitte Consulting is linked here in this version of this column. You should read it. However, I recommend that you have a comfort item—blanky, clean thumb, brew, whatever—with you when you do. It’s a sobering read. Its intent is to open our eyes and to urge those of us in the public and private sectors to change our national priorities before domestic manufacturing falls irrevocably behind the rest of the world.

Please note: When I wrote a couple of columns questioning our national priorities after the Katrina debacle, I received a storm of e-mails about enduring my unpolitically correct ideas, and I got lots of claptrap about the Constitution from people whose only apparent notion of citizenship is their entitlement to whine about taxes. “Why should some guy from Iowa pay taxes to help people in New Orleans?” wrote a lost soul from hurricane-prone Florida, citing an irrelevant quote from a Founding Father as proof.

Here’s a reason: our Founding Fathers passed us the pledge that binds all Americans: “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” If they can put it all on the line for future generations, so can you and I. Nobody ever said being a citizen was easy. Get over it.

Anyway, the upshot of the report is that American manufacturers now face a deep and critical shortage in human skills. That is, they can’t find people smart enough and motivated enough to do the work that needs to be done.

The majority of manufacturers responding to the survey—81%—reported that they are having moderate to severe difficulties finding high-quality workers. It’s even worse for production workers: “90 percent of respondents indicated a moderate to severe shortage of qualified skilled production employees.” And 65% said that they cannot find enough scientists and engineers.

Over the next three years, 51% of the respondents said they wanted people with basic employability skills. You know, bizarre stuff like showing up and a good work ethic. A similar 51% want people who can—no joke here—read, write, and communicate.

Education gets blasted: 84% feel that K-12 education is failing in its job to prepare the workforce. In total, 83% said this bad situation adversely affects their ability to service customers. Since business is all about servicing customers, if you can’t do it, see ya.

Among the report’s recommendations is an increased public and private investment in education. Schools that have eschewed steering kids into the trades because of the declines in manufacturing jobs are to be urged to rededicate themselves to math, science, computer skills, and the other modern tools of the manufacturing trade.

Report aside, if we fail to invest in ourselves, we will lose the global competition badly. I do not want my kids or grandkids to grow up with a standard of living less than I have. You?

A storm is gathering over the US and US manufacturing. We can unite to mitigate the damage to come, or we can keep gazing at our navels, secure in our arrogance. It’s time to choose.

Thanks, Pal —Lockwood