Previously I wrote about the shortage of skilled workers.  According to the Boston Consulting Group, there will be a nationwide shortage of 875,000 machinists, welders, industrial machine mechanics, and industrial engineers by 2020.  Following the laws of supply and demand, fewer workers than jobs means that employers will pay more to find and retain qualified employees.  Remember the adage that history repeats itself?  In the 1970s and 80s there was a shortage of qualified tool and die workers so these people were amply rewarded with perks and high salaries by their employers to ensure production schedules were met.  Now a growing economy seems to be causing the same shortage of workers resulting in increasing demand and pay for a new crop of skilled workers.

If you are entering the manufacturing workforce now, you may be getting in on the ground floor of a surge in manufacturing employment.  For many of these jobs a four year degree is unnecessary.  With proper training a career in manufacturing is easily attainable.  And getting this training at a community college will cost a fraction of what it would cost at other institutions.

Some employers I converse with are so urgently in need of skilled workers that they will hire conscientious and disciplined students before the students attain two year degrees. Give us rough stones and we will polish them, they say.  So start your careers now by taking advantage of these great opportunities and earn certificates and/or degrees in as short a period of time as possible.