ASME Calls for Sustained Investment in Engineering Workforce

A new ASME position statement, Developing a Strong Future Engineering Workforce, outlines a roadmap for federal policymakers to strengthen the nation’s engineering education and workforce-development pipeline as AI and other emerging technologies drive the need for new skills across industries. Developed through collaboration between ASME’s Committee on Government Relations (CGR) and Committee on Engineering Education (CEE), the statement will help inform ASME’s advocacy and outreach with Congress and federal agencies on science and engineering research, education, and workforce policy.  

The need is significant. Mechanical engineering employs more than 293,000 professionals nationwide, with projections to add at least 26,500 jobs over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, mechanical engineers are working in an increasingly digital environment being re-shaped by artificial intelligence, advanced design and simulation tools, digital twins, robotics, and ambitious national objectives for infrastructure development.    

A Five-Part Roadmap for Policymakers 

ASME recommends that federal policy address five interconnected priorities: 

• Scale regional innovation and workforce ecosystems by supporting partnerships among universities, community colleges, national laboratories, and manufacturers and investing in shared infrastructure such as testbeds, prototyping capabilities, and standards development. 

• Modernize education and training pathways by expanding experiential learning, apprenticeships, technician-to-engineer pathways, and high-quality credentials aligned with industry needs. 

• Expand access to digital research infrastructure so geographically dispersed students and researchers can participate in federal research networks and access scientific instrumentation and collaboration tools. 

• Better integrate scientists, engineers, and skilled technical workers through interdisciplinary research, continuing education, upskilling, standards, and manufacturing-readiness initiatives. 

• Measure outcomes and invest in successful approaches by improving evaluation of federally supported STEM education and workforce programs and scaling effective partnerships.  

These recommendations also highlight the important connection between federal policy and ASME’s own efforts to strengthen pathways into engineering careers. 

Through its Community College Engineering Pathways (CCEP) and Accelerating Engineering Pathways (AEP) efforts, ASME is working to expand community-college partnerships, mentorship, faculty development, and employer-aligned work-based learning. The position statement points to this work as a model for connecting hands-on education with industry needs and creating additional pathways into engineering and skilled technical careers.  

ASME is also supporting workforce development through registered apprenticeship programs, alongside continuing education, professional development, and training in high-demand technical competencies such as Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T). Together, these efforts demonstrate how professional societies, educators, employers, and government can help prepare workers for a rapidly changing engineering environment.   

As Congress and federal agencies consider future investments in science, engineering, manufacturing, and workforce programs, ASME will continue advocating for policies that build a resilient, inclusive, and future-ready engineering workforce capable of meeting the nation’s technological and economic needs.  

Read the full statement here.  

Interested in helping shape ASME's Workforce Development Policy Priorities? Join our Workforce Development Public Policy Task Force. Contact nadlera@asme.org for details.