In an ironic twist, The Wall Street Journal reports that American manufacturers are now struggling to find enough skilled people to fill their positions. After a history of layoffs and job declines over the past 30 years, companies large and small are now scrounging to find trained employees to run lathes, milling machines, and other multi-million dollar pieces of equipment. In an article entitled “Help Wanted on Factory Floor”, the Journal attributes this problem to three issues:
1) The number of manufacturing jobs is now growing once again in the U.S.
2) Baby Boomer retirements are beginning to sap the numbers of available employees,
3) The education system’s failure to turn out enough graduates with the math and science skills to fill these positions.
I would add a fourth to the above; that is the message parents, educators and politicians have pounded into emerging generations about getting a college degree to be “somebody.” While millions of young people graduate every year at age 22 and enter jobs paying $30-40,000 per year, it is possible for community college and trade school graduates to enter positions at age 20 that will pay $50-80,000.
While we can argue about the inequities of the system, the reality is we are doing millions of kids a disservice by insisting that they pursue four year degrees when their passion and talents may lie in more mechanical pursuits. What’s the long-term impact of this? I’ll let you decide.