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External factors like mass deportations and tariffs further complicate the landscape. Manufacturing has historically been heavily reliant on immigrant workers, especially in hard-to-fill roles. This is part of the untold story of the pandemic, as not only did it slow down movement in the US, but it also brought global migration flows to a grinding halt. This put immigrant-reliant sectors like manufacturing even further behind than other businesses and industries when it came to the shortage of skilled workers. The current policies leading to deportations reduce this critical labor pool, while tariffs increase costs for manufacturers, leaving fewer resources for workforce development. Addressing these challenges requires innovative strategies to attract, develop, and retain talent.
The scope of the manufacturing labor shortage
The labor shortage is not just about numbers, it’ s about skills. While advances in automation and smart manufacturing can go some lengths to reducing the number of workers necessary it is not enough. Workers are still needed, especially for skilled workers to operate and maintain complex machinery. Counterintuitively, the same advances that slightly reduce the number of workers needed in fact makes the labor shortage harder to address because many job seekers lack these specialized skills.
Compounding this issue is the retirement of baby boomers, who at their peak were the largest generation, so there simply are not enough people to replace them as they age out of the workforce. These overlapping factors, fewer migrants and Baby Boomers retiring with not enough people in younger generations to replace them, place a major strain on available labor. Additionally, perception plays a role in further shrinking the available workforce. Despite modern manufacturing being clean, high-tech, and innovative, many still view it as low-paying and physically demanding work. This image discourages younger generations from pursuing careers in the field.
Strategies for closing the gap
Manufacturers face many barriers to growth and success as they must balance meeting workforce needs in the short-term with preparation for longer term challenges. Innovative approaches are required to do so, as advances in technology mean newer products and newer ways of manufacturing them emerge seemingly every day. However, these demands cannot be met solely through technological innovation, so manufacturers must ensure they have labor solutions that help them continue not only to meet demand but to thrive. The extent to which the industry can adopt the expensive machinery, and costly installation has been crimped by the aforementioned years of sluggish growth due to the labor sector, and again the adoption of innovative production methods only further strains the need for skilled workers.
Giving workers necessary skills
For the manufacturing industry to address the labor shortage, not just to recover but to lay the foundation for sustained growth, leaders must invest in their workers, improving the skills of the workers they have while working to attract and train new talent. The upskilling and reskilling of workers must be a priority, and the same programs implemented to do this can be extended to bringing in and training new workers. Apprenticeship programs and onthe-job-training tailored to retraining can broaden the pool of workers able to operate advanced technologies like robotics and AI systems, innovations that can greatly improve productivity and output if the necessary skilled operators can be found. Furthermore cross-training workers across
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