What Minnesota Manufacturers are Doing to Address Hiring Difficulties
December 11, 2019
Finding workers to fill open jobs in manufacturing is more difficult now than any time since the start of the Great Recession. As hiring outpaces the number of applicants, manufacturing employers are ramping up investments in training and retention strategies, according to an article by Alessia Leibert in Minnesota Economic Trends magazine.
Overall, manufacturing employers reported hiring difficulties in 62% of vacancies. Workforce shortages are particularly acute in occupations such as computer-controlled machine tool programmers, machinists and mechanical engineering technicians. These roles now require more skills as a consequence of automated technologies, but the workforce hasn’t kept up with the new skills requirements. In addition to skills gaps, employers cite inconvenient work shifts, uncompetitive compensation and undesirable locations as reasons for hiring difficulties.