It’s Super Tuesday in the U.S. Voters in 10 states head to the polls today to cast their votes in local races and for their preferred candidates to run in November’s presidential race.
Leading up to this and primaries in other states, candidates have been out in full force visiting manufacturing facilities and speaking about how important manufacturing is to job creation and the U.S. economy.
While candidates are busy offering up sound bites, existing manufacturers continue to have difficulty finding workers to fill open positions. Some have resorted to importing workers.
An article published this week on cnnmoney.com described the scenario: “The United States is experiencing a shrinking pipeline of manufacturing talent, said James Wall, deputy director of the National Institute for Metalworking Skills.
"It's been in the making for years," he said. Factories didn't feel the labor pinch as much when manufacturing was in a slump. But the latest ‘Made in USA’ resurgence has them scrambling.
“Wall said some manufacturers have been relying on foreign workers to fill the gaps through H-1B visas.
“The popular H-1B program allows high-skilled foreign workers to be employed in the United States for a maximum duration of six years. Each year, the government issues a quota of new H-1B work visa applications, and all industries compete against the quota. Last year's cap was set at 65,000.
“High-tech companies tend to submit the most applications for H-1B visas. Manufacturers typically aren't big users of the program. Out of all the H-1B applications sent to the Labor Department less than 10 percent were from manufacturers.
“A total of 39,551 foreign workers for manufacturing positions were certified by the Labor Department in 2011 for H-1B visas. That number was up from 34,830 workers in 2010.
“The agency certifies an application after a U.S. employer has demonstrated that it was unable to find a willing and qualified American worker for the job.”
A majority of the applications for manufacturing last year were for architecture, engineering, and other non-production related jobs. Less than 100 certified applications were for core factory jobs, such as machinists and computer-controlled machine operators.
So, even though manufacturers are going down this path, "‘H-1B is never going to be the answer to the skills shortage in production jobs in manufacturing,’ said Gardner Carrick, senior director with the Manufacturing Institute. Carrick also said, 'These are good quality middle-class jobs that Americans should be training for.'"
Are there enough training programs? A recent blog post on thefabricator.com discussed the disappearance of vocational programs in the U.S. and how some employers now are asking that they be reinstated. This post referenced an article that described the status of these programs in 2003 based on a “Fabricating Update” survey. In that survey, 75 percent of respondents said programs had been cut in their part of the country, and others feared cuts were imminent. Lately, many of the programs that remain reportedly are at full capacity, and some schools are adding classes.
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