Introduction
Skill shortage is a pressing issue for the United States (US) manufacturing sector. ManpowerGroup (2020) notes that “talent shortages in the U.S. have more than tripled in a decade” (para. 1). At the same time, industries that require fewer skills continue to be outsourced to other countries such as China and Mexico (AP Archive, 2017). The need for a skilled workforce in business actors and a large number of unemployed workers lacking the necessary modern manufacturing skills have prompted many companies to develop training programs to fill the skill shortage. The question that arises is whether the measures taken are effective.
Skill Shortage Will Remain
The truth is that training does not reduce talent shortage; even companies themselves are aware of this. According to Gaskell (2021), “firms seem unable or unwilling to invest more than they currently are in training their workforce” (para. 20). It is primarily due to significant financial costs associated with the development, implementation, and maintenance of the training program. Moreover, it was found that businesses prefer to recruit new employees because they already have the necessary skills (Gaskell, 2021). Simply put, they exchange work experience for specialized skills. However, the patterns mentioned above are characteristic of the European industrial sector.
The Paradigm Issue of Training Programs
The state of affairs in the USA is not much better. New high-tech and automated production facilities have significantly increased the number of jobs, but not the number of employable laborers (AP Archive, 2017). It is probably due to the current international paradigm of the training program, which is workplace safety training (Gaskell, 2021). If companies focus on training specialized skills, the trend may change.
References
AP Archive. (2017). US plants struggle to fill skilled positions [Video]. YouTube.
Gaskell, A. (2021). Changes in job-related training since covid-19. Forbes. Web.
ManpowerGroup. (2020). U.S. talent shortages at ten year high: To attract and retain the best talent employers need to understand what workers want. Cision PR Newswire. Web.