EVERY COMPANY GRAPPLES with the challenge of recruiting talent. But the need is especially dire in advanced manufacturing.
According to a study conducted by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, by 2025, an estimated 3.5 million jobs will be created in the manufacturing industry, but 2 million of those positions are expected to go unfulfilled due to a gap in skilled labor.
However, manufacturing – advanced manufacturing in particular – remains a key to the country’s economic success in the long run. In addition to its significant contribution to GDP ($2.1 trillion in 2013, amounting to 12.5 percent of total U.S. gross domestic product, according to Economic Policy Institute) and its vital role in providing goods and services for other sectors of our economy, manufacturing also plays a critical part in maintaining the nation’s innovative competitiveness. As a report by McKinsey Global Institute points out, manufacturing makes “outsized contributions to research and development, exports, and productivity growth.”