U.S. manufacturing sees shortage of skilled factory workers

“It’s a glamour issue,” said Dave Van Dam, 37. “The kids come in here and see a dirty, loud place. We get oil on ourselves. Then they go upstairs and they see the designers in their cubicles with two screens and headphones on listening to music.

“Plus, there’s the uniform we wear on the floor,” said Van Dam, dressed in work pants and a shirt with his name embroidered in blue stitching on the chest. “You go into a restaurant dressed like this, and you get treated different than if you have a suit on.”

Graphic

Manufacturing job openings are increasing.

More from The Washington Post

Obama’s support for export industry causes clash of U.S. business interests

Zachary A. Goldfarb

The president’s support for manufacturing and exports could force him to pick winners and losers, as is already playing out in the airline industry.

A permanent workforce shift?

Ylan Q. Mui

A post-recession surge in temporary jobs reflects a fundamental change in American employment.

The problem with job retraining

Amy Goldstein

It might not get people back to work.

More on this Story

• Government takes bigger role in patent fight
• BP could reach deal this week
• COLUMN | Heath: Raising money before roasting beans
• Enrollment, earnings fall at Strayer, as for-profit degree purveyors struggle

View all Items in this Story

• Key economic events this week
• Post office closings may increase rural isolation, economic disparity
• COLUMN | Pearlstein: A museum for American ingenuity?
• COLUMN: Klein: With a second term go Obama's accomplishments
• Factories struggle to find skilled workers
• In Spain, hundreds of thousands protest labor cuts spurred by austerity measures
• YouTube enlisting Hollywood’s help to develop content, grow audience
• Wal-Mart agrees to take majority stake in Chinese online retailer Yihaodian

The funny thing is, Van Dam said, that a skilled machine operator makes more than a designer. Pay for skilled operator-programmers runs from $18 to $28 per hour; the designers upstairs make $14 to $24.

Matt Bickel, a barrel-chested welder with an Indianapolis Colts sweatshirt, safety glasses, boots and stained jeans, echoed other workers on the factory floors here when asked how there could be a shortage of factory workers.

“A bunch of lazy Americans don’t want to get their hands dirty anymore,” he said. “They want an office job.”

New recruiting tactics

The shortage has forced firms to adopt new tactics.

To fill slots, a few manufacturers have turned to hiring candidates who are untrained but have the inclination to work with their hands. Some recruiters said they like to find people who like to fix dirt bikes and snowmobiles. Then they train the candidates. Many companies have apprenticeship programs.

At the new Siemens plant in Charlotte, officials tested 2,000 of these applicants for every 50 openings. About 10 percent passed, and the field was then winnowed through interviews.

Hundreds are taking job-specific training. The company has even arranged with Central Piedmont Community College to develop a “mechatronics” curriculum with an associate’s degree.

“We knew that we were not going to find the people with the right skills right off the streets,” said Mark Pringle, director of operations at the plant. “So we tried to find people with the right aptitudes.”

The shortage of skilled workers has also pushed up wages, though executives said raising them too far could push more work to overseas plants.

A Michigan company that makes camshafts for cars, as well as farm and mining equipment, has had ads out for at least six months for CNC machine operators and programmers. The pay runs from $15 to $21 an hour, a relatively good wage in this part of the country.

“The problem is as soon as we get someone in, one of our other guys will jump ship,” said Tyson De Jonge, engineering manager at Engine Power Components. “They get better offers.”