Northwest Arkansas is no exception
With the “onshoring” efforts of companies like Wal-Mart attempting to return manufacturing back to the United States, hundreds if not thousands of skilled laborer jobs are open across the country. Northwest Arkansas is no exception. Manufacturing decreased in the last decade in the region but has never died out. The Northwest Arkansas manufacturing sector employed an estimated 26,200 in August, down more than 21% compared to August 2004.
Culinary and hospitality (travel and tourism) is another growing industry that faces as shortage of well-trained workers.
Local companies are working to bridge those gaps through their own training programs and with the help of community colleges like NorthWest Arkansas Community College.
Mike Harvey, chief operating officer for the Northwest Arkansas Council, told The City Wire recently that the gap between skilled workers available and the number of job openings continues to widen. In the local market he said there are two openings for every one welder certified last year. Machinists, tool & die makers, industrial maintenance and installation repair as a local employment sector reported 382 openings last year, according to Harvey. At the same time local schools graduated 57 workers with those certifications.
“It’s surprising to some that there are shortages in the production occupations because for the last 13-15 years they’ve been losing jobs in the terms of net,” Harvey said in September. “People look at that and they see no future there. It’s a vicious circle there where we’re losing jobs in manufacturing but then we can’t find people (for the jobs that do exist).”
Harvey and several local manufacturing industry leaders agree that another factor they are facing is the aging workforce. Those who are long-time skilled workers are aging out of the industry or they are not up-to-speed on the newer, higher level technology used in manufacturing. Many of the jobs now available are for machinery/robotics maintenance and machine workers with skills on the high-tech machines.