The Manufacturing Industry is Lacking Skilled Workers, the American National Standards Institute and Manufacturing Extension Partnership Explore How and Why in New Report

At the present time, there is a dearth of qualified workers to sufficiently staff the U.S. manufacturing industry. A new report from Workcred – an affiliate of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) – and the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) explores this skills misalignment, noting: “To help solve this mismatch and keep up with changing skill needs, a clearer understanding of how credentials are used and valued by the manufacturing industry is essential.”

The report, titled “Examining the Quality, Market Value, and Effectiveness of Manufacturing Credentials in the United States” examines the current state of American manufacturing and the skills the industry desires of its workers at all levels versus those with which they are currently equipped. Based on its findings, several recommendations are made that revolve around themes pertaining to: 

• Improving understanding about the content, use, and value of credentials
• Expanding the use of quality standards for credentials
• Strengthening relationships between employers, education and training providers, and credentialing organizations
• Adding an employability skills component to existing and new credentials
• Creating credentials that focus on performance and address new roles
• Increasing the number of apprentices and expand apprenticeships to more occupations

Recommendations in the report were made based on findings after surveying manufacturing workers, as well as examining factors such as how credentials are used in manufacturing facilities, what skills are noted in assessing potential hires and promotional decisions, and what sorts of training opportunities are currently offered to provide further credentials.

To view the report in full, click here: https://workcred.org/Documents/NIST-MEP-Report.pdf