Comments on: Building Jobs - In Manufacturing

Many Americans Are Out Of Work, But Manufacturers Are Hiring Skilled Labor

[cbs7sisters]

PART II - Public Awareness%u2013Schools, Teachers, Parents & Students (middle/high school & post-secondary) - presented with info. about educational requirements of manufacturers & existing mfg. jobs & careers in area. Businesses - register open positions w/One-Stop Career Centers to help gov. accurately calculate demand for mfg. workers, instead of simply putting up signs/advertising. Advertising $$ are wasted when, over time, they match/exceed cost of train. new workers.

Training - Current in-house & external train. programs maximized & new programs developed to fit need. Training - localized. It is difficult & costly for workers to travel great distances or live away from home for train. that takes many weeks. Businesses - refer unqualified applicants to career ctrs & train. programs to channel interest & energy of motivated individuals. One-Stop Career Centers - refer unemployed & underemployed to mfg. train. programs.

Networking - Businesses, gov. agencies, community groups & train. providers - network to brainstorm on solutions to current employment shortages. Solutions include: coordinated development of mfg. consortiums & train. initiatives; grant writing to raise train. funds; shared sponsorship of train. between businesses & train. providers; low-interest/creative loan programs for mfg. trainees; development of mfg. apprenticeship & mentoring programs; support for community & in-school mfg. events, programs & competitions such as BotsIQ & First Lego League.

[important3]

March 10 2008 from AUSTIN T-E-X-A-S quote: "Gov. Rick Perry today announced that an estimated 370,000 Texas businesses will be getting a tax cut of $90 million, thanks to the state%u2019s strong economy and low unemployment"...well Da!!! ever since the state''s workforce/unemployment agency was privatized and ran by special interests it''s to be expected that it would have a huge sulpus. Not to fast, as a life long Texan, I want to inform all across the country. State of Texas during this same period has had accountless that commited sucide for being deny their rightfully so unemployment benefits in fact back since Bush was governor. Nancy Pelosi if by any chance you read this, I sure wish you would wire-tap our governor Mr. Rick Perry himself 24/7.

[important3]

March 10 2008 from AUSTIN quote: Gov. Rick Perry today announced that an estimated 370,000 Texas businesses will be getting a tax cut of $90 million, thanks to the state%u2019s strong economy and low unemployment. Well Da! ever since the state''s workforce/unemployment agency was privatized and run by special interests it''s to be expected that it would have a huge sulpus. Guess rest of the country State of Texas had accountless that commited sucide back since O'' Bush was governor. Nancy Pelosi if by any chance you read this, I sure wish you would wire-tap our governor Mr. Rick Perry himself 24/7.

[important3]

March 10 2008 from AUSTIN quote: Gov. Rick Perry today announced that an estimated 370,000 Texas businesses will be getting a tax cut of $90 million, thanks to the state%u2019s strong economy and low unemployment. Well Da! ever since the state''s workforce/unemployment agency was privatized and run by special interests it''s to be expected that it would have a huge sulpus. Guess rest of the country State of Texas had accountless that commited sucide back since O'' Bush was governor. Nancy Pelosi if by any chance you read this, I sure wish you would wire-tap our governor Mr. Rick Perry himself 24/7.

[vdillon2]

I can''t believe 6 job openings can create a story on the evening news. I was so furious with the implication that laid off factory workers must be idiots since these openings were available and just waiting for some lazy fool to get out of the unemployment line and fill them. Furthermore you talked to 2 Millennium Generationers - are these kids prepared to work anywhere - why not ask their "hovering parents". The student who proclaimed %u201CI%u2019m a talker, not a worker.%u201D %u2013 His parents must be so proud. As a H R Professional it depresses me to interview throughout the U S and hear hard luck backgrounds of so many American workers. Yes some are unqualified (for some jobs) due to spending 30 years in a mfg plant which needed them to be trained in a firm specific skill set (maintaining furnaces for the making of glass). And yes most of them are older workers (30%u2019s and up) but they are trainable; dependable; and willing to work. Not many people can step into a job and not need some type of training. Most jobs can be learned. Employers need to look for more than a diploma. Plus we still need %u201Cthe low-skill assembly line kind%u201D of jobs. Since school budgets are being cut many children are getting left behind -Sorry President Bush. These jobs can provide some positive contribution to a worker%u2019s self esteem; society and the economy. Not everyone is going to grow up and run for president - BUT EVERYONE IS GOING TO GROW UP AND VOTE FOR PRESIDENT.

[tool105]

most of the guys that I''ve seen lately say they are a machinist but most of them could''nt count there balls and come up with the same number twice!

[tool105]

the machine shops that you are talking about are the big companys who are doing alot of outsourcing over seas.The smaller mom & pop machine shops with 50 people or less are still going strong and will continue to do so because alot of what we make aero space and medical parts takes alot of skills on the shop floor such as programming cnc machines as well as running conventional machines. being a machinist is alot more than just loading a part and pushing a button,hell any one can do that and that is alot of the kind of work has gone over seas, but if you are a skilled machinist or tool maker there are still good jobs here.

[omega39-2009]

I do work in a union shop uaw to be exact and the company that I work for hasnt had the apprentiship program for more than 20 years.until they start investing in people they will continue to have a problem filling their jobs. Here where I work we are short 12 machinist in just 1 dept.

Posted by tool105

Tool105, when I wrote that I was thinking primarily of the ads I have seen for electrical and plumbing apprenticeships. Twenty years eh, that would make it around 1988. Wasn''t it around that time that machine shops were rapidly disappearing from the Midwest and magically reappearing in China? Perhaps the Unions thought they had enough displaced workers to fill any projected shortfall.

[tool105]

I do work in a union shop uaw to be exact and the company that I work for hasnt had the apprentiship program for more than 20 years.until they start investing in people they will continue to have a problem filling their jobs. Here where I work we are short 12 machinist in just 1 dept.

[omega39-2009]

what we need is for american companies to bring back the tool and die and machinist apprentiship programs like the one I went through in the mid 90s.that is the only way we are ever going to fill these high tech jobs with good people.

Posted by tool105

Many unions offer apprenticeship opportunities in their trade but as the unions are attacked and regulations designed to bust them are enacted, the opportunities become fewer and fewer.