Survey Shows Looming Shortage of Skilled Labor Wil
Peoria, IL, June 7--The looming shortfall of skilled labor in the U.S. will cost manufacturers an average $50 million from their bottom lines, according to results of a just conducted survey commissioned by Advanced Technology Services, Inc. (ATS) and conducted by Nielsen Entertainment's Consumer Products Group, a leading consulting and custom research firm based in Los Angeles.
In the survey of 94 senior manufacturing executives, with titles of CEO, CIO, Vice President and Plant Manager, ATS asked: Forecasts indicate that during the next five years, approximately 40 percent of your skilled labor force will retire. What do you anticipate the retirement of 40 percent of your skilled labor force will cost your company in these five years?
A majority of those surveyed - approximately two-thirds - say the crisis will cost them, on average, $50 million. Yet 46 percent of the respondents with more than $1 billion in revenue predict their costs will be much deeper - more than $100 million in the next five years.
The survey also found that among discrete manufacturers, automotive manufacturers will be impacted the most, followed by ball and roller bearing makers, metal valve manufacturers and engine and transmission manufacturers.
"The looming skilled worker shortage is an unwelcome threat to the nation's manufacturing base that needs to be addressed at multiple levels, from better educating the next generation of factory workers to improving the public's image of plant work," said ATS President Jeffrey Owens. "Our most modern and cutting edge plants can be more productive and profitable by deploying highly skilled employees that make their production machinery run better."
A number of sources point to a shortfall in skilled factory workers as early as five years from now, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Association of Manufacturers and others.
