America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers
Manufacturing Faces Potential Labor Shortage Due to Skills Gap
About 1.4 million manufacturing jobs were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic but the industry was already facing a potential labor crisis ? a projected 2.1 million unfulfilled jobs by 2030 resulting from a lack of skilled labor, according to a study by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Now that the pandemic emergency has ended, the industry has more jobs to fill and is actively seeking highly skilled workers.
The NAM study shows that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have a growing influence on workforce trends and can help manufacturers fill these empty jobs.
Powering the Economy One Chip at a Time
Semiconductors or microchips are the primary building blocks to providing computing power to electronic devices such as computers, smartphones and automobiles but economists predict that 90,000 workers need to join the semiconductor workforce by 2025 to address the deficit of chip production in the United States.
This potential shortage is happening at a time when the semiconductor-related workforce is aging.
Last year, Congress passed the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act, which provides funding for manufacturing, research and development to elevate the nation?s position in nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, clean energy and other transformational technologies.
We are highlighting the workers in this key part of our economy during Manufacturing Week.
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