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For Immediate Release
January 7, 2005

CBIA SURVEY OF CONNECTICUT MANUFACTURERS FINDS
SHORTAGE OF SKILLED WORKERS


Survey details skills needed today and in the future

Connecticut manufacturers are having difficulty finding workers with specific skills to fill positions in their firms, according to a new survey released today by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.

Positions that are extremely difficult to fill include tool and die makers, CNC programmers, engineers, CAD/CAM workers, and plant managers.

“Overall, this shows that manufacturers do not feel as though they have a robust labor market to hire from in Connecticut ,� said Lauren Weisberg Kaufman, CBIA vice president of education and job training and executive director of the CBIA Education Foundation.

The 2004 Survey of Current and Future Manufacturing Jobs in Connecticut also revealed how manufacturers think their workforces will change over the next five years, and identified specific skills required for jobs at their companies. It also asked if manufacturers are satisfied with the quality of job candidates graduating from Connecticut educational institutions and whether they expect to increase their workforces and replace retiring employees.

“We can use this data and work with Connecticut ’s educational institutions to help train workers for the manufacturing careers needed today and in the future. We can also help Connecticut manufacturers with their long- and short-term needs for skilled employees,� said Weisberg Kaufman.

Hiring
Eighty percent of respondents said they expect to hire more workers by 2009, due to increased sales, product innovation, or the expansion of their companies. Nearly a third of those businesses (31 percent) expect to expand their workforce by 25 percent or more within the next five years.

In addition, 72 percent said they expect to replace some of their workforce by 2009 due to employee retirements. Of those companies, seven percent expect they will replace more than half of their workforce, and another 13 percent expect to replace 25 percent to 49 percent of their workforce.

Long-term demand
Over the next two to five years, there will be a particularly strong demand for workers in 12 different job categories, with the greatest demand in both 2007 and 2010 for:

  • tool and die makers,
  • CNC programmers and technicians,
  • engineers,
  • CAD/CAM workers,
  • technical sales staff,
  • plant managers, and
  • production managers.

“Manufacturing continues to be a vital component in Connecticut ’s economy. The continued viability of manufacturers in the state depends on a number of key factors, including the availability of a skilled workforce today and in the future,� said Peter Gioia, CBIA economist.

Skills needed now and in the future
Manufacturers identified the top specific skill areas needed in their companies in the next five years. The findings in most cases mirror the needs of today. Out of 15 specific areas manufacturers said the skills most needed today are:

  • lean manufacturing (67 percent),
  • team building/problem solving (54 percent),
  • engineering (50 percent),
  • blueprint reading (50 percent), and
  • CNC programming (50 percent).


The skills most needed in five years will be:

  • lean manufacturing (61 percent),
  • blueprint reading (56 percent),
  • green technologies (54 percent),
  • team building/problem solving (52 percent), and
  • CNC programming (51 percent).

According to Karen Wosczyna Birch, director of the College of Technology’s four-year National Science Foundation grant program on next generation manufacturing, new courses will be developed in lean manufacturing, green technologies and laser training. These courses will help companies address their needs.

The majority of respondents (71 percent) provide training for their workers as well as assistance to help them transition to more senior positions within their companies. And 52 percent provide tuition reimbursement or off-site employee training and education to their workers.

Education satisfaction and recruitment
Business leaders expressed satisfaction with the quality of job candidates graduating from Connecticut educational institutions.

Executives were most satisfied with private, four-year colleges (87 percent rating them good or excellent). Close behind were Connecticut state universities, with 79 percent rating them good or excellent, followed by the University of Connecticut at 77 percent. Seventy-four percent of respondents rated community colleges that grant associate’s degrees good or excellent, and private occupational schools were next in employer satisfaction, with 73 percent.

Finally, community colleges granting six-month/one-year certificates were given a 62 percent good or excellent rating, and technical high schools, 62 percent.

As the statewide industry partner for the College of Technology’s next-generation manufacturing grant, CBIA is working with the community colleges, technical high schools and member companies to introduce students to the career opportunities in manufacturing and ensure that advanced programs in the two-year colleges meet the needs of tomorrow’s manufacturers.

A panel of experts will discuss the findings of this survey as well as manufacturing innovation and training initiatives at the Jan. 12, 2005 , CBIA & MetroHartford Alliance Economic Summit & Outlook to be held at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Cromwell. For more information on the conference, please visit www.cbia.com/newsroom.

Methodology
The survey was funded by a U.S. Labor Department Skill Shortage Two Demonstration grant, and by the National Science Foundation’s grant to the College of Technology , which subcontracted with CBIA for the survey. The survey will be repeated every year for the next three years to assist the community colleges in responding to the needs of manufacturers. CBIA received 623 responses to surveys sent out in June and July 2004. The response rate was 9 percent with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

CBIA is Connecticut ’s largest business organization, with 10,000 members.

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Editor’s Note: Copies of the survey will be available at the Economic Summit & Outlook at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Cromwell on Jan. 12. Media wishing to attend the conference should contact Nancy Andrews, CBIA media relations manager, at 860-244-1957.

 

 


The Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing is funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education program. Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.