Dialogue on Accelerating and Innovating Workforce Development, Kenosha, WI

The public may find it counterintuitive that even while the unemployment rate is persistently high, hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs go unfilled. Rapidly deployed new technologies, major demographic shifts, and corporate globalization have employers scouring for qualified candidates. It’s estimated that as many as 600,000 manufacturing positions are currently unfilled in the U.S. Without a domestic source of critical manufacturing skills, many firms have gone and will continue to go offshore, where the desired talent is abundant and affordable. This dialogue will examine steps that can take now to begin to narrow the skills gap and lay a foundation for manufacturing growth.