MONROE - Wanted: Skilled workers.
Wisconsin manufacturers employ almost 450,000 workers and pay about 20 percent more than the average weekly wage, making the state's manufacturing sector one of the strongest in the country, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. But employers say they can't find skilled workers to fill the thousands of openings they have.
It's a problem for the entire state, and the so-called "skills gap" requires collaboration by the private-sector, state government, economic development and education, according DWD Secretary Reggie Newson, State Superintendent Tony Evers and top leaders of various business and manufacturing organizations.
Fourteen openings in production occupations in Green County, most of which were for metal and plastic workers, were posted at the DWD Jobs Center website between Oct. 5-25. Monroe Truck Equipment posted six of those openings on Oct. 9 and 10. Ed Herrman, director of human resources for the company, said Thursday he is still looking to fill several skilled trades positions, particularly welding and truck equipment installations - jobs that pay up to $17 per hour.
Herrman said the struggle to fill these positions is becoming more apparent "as the economy continues to rebound," and the "shortages are more obvious across manufacturing sectors.
"We are definitely feeling the gap," he said.
The shortages of workers arise from a variety of factors, he noted. First, he said, there is an increase in need because of increases in sales, a result of an improving economy.
"Plus, there is a turnover in retirement or (from an increase in) commuting costs as employees seek and are getting employment closer to their homes," Herrman added.
Herrman said Monroe Truck Equipment typically tries to pull employees from the local area because of the pressure of commuter costs. He said he understands that pressure, as he, too, must commute 25 miles to work.
Monroe Truck Equipment uses several avenues to find potential employees: advertising in local publications, multiple hiring agencies, Wisconsin Job Service, Wisconsin technical colleges and best of all, he said, referrals from current employees.
Jamie Yahnke, a staffing specialist with Manpower in Monroe, said she also "reaches out to area technical schools and colleges" and uses ads in local newspapers to find potential employees for her clients.
She said there has been a "substantial" increase in temporary and permanent placements locally in the past few months and most recently for top-skilled customer service representatives to earn $11-13 an hour.
Manpower has recently "partnered with a local company" whose customers "want to talk with someone in the United States, not overseas," she said. "These are not sales and not telemarketing, and not seasonal" she added. "They are for in-bound calls for customer support."
Yahnke noted Manpower's employment outlook survey from Sept. 11 shows employers in Wisconsin expect to hire "at a healthy pace" during 2012's fourth quarter and are slightly more optimistic about their staffing plans than in the same period last year.
For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in construction, durable and non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, information, financial activities, education and health services, leisure and hospitality and other services.
Those occupation areas coincide roughly with the 125 Green County listings on JobCenter of Wisconsin posted during the Oct. 5-25 period. Health care (practitioners and technical) occupations ranked first, with 25 openings. Transportation and material moving - mostly vehicle drivers - ranked second with 18 openings. Manufacturing production occupations ranked third, with 14 openings.
Companies are often willing to train their employees to fit the job, but there is a basic level of education, skill level, employment history and experience needed to be hired, Yahnke said. Her job is to match the skill sets with the position openings.
Welding, as a skilled trade, is used in many manufacturing entities, according to Herrman, and Monroe Truck Equipment uses welders of various levels. But highly skilled, experienced welders are of an older age group and retirement looms for many.
The experienced welder is hard to find now, even though "skilled trades in manufacturing provide a good profession with good earning potential," Herrman said. "Professional welders are very much in need."
He added many young people have opted for college rather than technical or trade schools. Manufacturing is still perceived as "dirty working environments," Herrman said, but today a lot of trade jobs require knowledge of computer numeric controls, a method of controlling manufacturing machines by digital electronic computers and circuitry.
There is an increase in enrollment for skilled trades at state technical schools, Herrman said, and schools, such as Blackhawk Technical College, are responding to the need. But, there is a lag-time, he noted, for high school students to get through tech school and then gain experience in entry-level positions to replace the retiring master welders. Meanwhile, many college students are facing unemployment straight out of graduation.
Kevin Monahan, manager of human resources at Orchid Monroe, along with representatives from other companies and local school districts, sits on a BTC advisory board. He has also joined an advisory board of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development.
According to Monahan, these boards are making inroads into the employment gap, building bridges with education and training.
"The people we have in this area are a great, hardworking workforce," he said. And while Orchid can train people for assembly positions, workers still need basic reading and math skills. The company has a more difficult time finding welders and operators for coordinate measuring machines, which must come with technical training.
Often the best place to start training a new workforce is in high schools.
Monahan noted one new program brings high school students into the plant to show them the work opportunities that can be had and dispel old myths of manufacturing jobs. It also helps students understand the skills they will need.
BTC has moved into area high schools with dual-credit articulation agreements, allowing high school students to use credits from BTC courses to fulfill their high school graduation requirements, giving students a jump start on their advanced training.
"It's not a new program, but it has a stronger emphasis now," said Jennifer Thayer, dean at the BTC's Monroe campus. "It's been an under-utilized resource for a long time.
On the horizon is Blackhawk's new Advanced Manufacturing Center for Green and Rock counties. The school now has requests for proposals out to find a building to set up the center in Rock County.
"It's a place to house more programs and extend current programs to meet the skills gap", Thayer said. The center will be outfitted with all the equipment needed for students to train on, from welding to robotics, and in every aspect of business and manufacturing's automated systems -mechanical, electrical and computerized.
The idea for the center was "put on the fast track," she said, and is expected to be up and running in a couple years, in time to meet the rising demand for training, as predicted by the increasing number of articulations agreements being signed by students. The center is being built with funding from grants and public-private partnerships.
But Thayer said some programs will be conducted on the Monroe campus. "We are hearing some business want some needs met right here if possible," she said.
Wisconsin manufacturers employ almost 450,000 workers and pay about 20 percent more than the average weekly wage, making the state's manufacturing sector one of the strongest in the country, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. But employers say they can't find skilled workers to fill the thousands of openings they have.
It's a problem for the entire state, and the so-called "skills gap" requires collaboration by the private-sector, state government, economic development and education, according DWD Secretary Reggie Newson, State Superintendent Tony Evers and top leaders of various business and manufacturing organizations.
Fourteen openings in production occupations in Green County, most of which were for metal and plastic workers, were posted at the DWD Jobs Center website between Oct. 5-25. Monroe Truck Equipment posted six of those openings on Oct. 9 and 10. Ed Herrman, director of human resources for the company, said Thursday he is still looking to fill several skilled trades positions, particularly welding and truck equipment installations - jobs that pay up to $17 per hour.
Herrman said the struggle to fill these positions is becoming more apparent "as the economy continues to rebound," and the "shortages are more obvious across manufacturing sectors.
"We are definitely feeling the gap," he said.
The shortages of workers arise from a variety of factors, he noted. First, he said, there is an increase in need because of increases in sales, a result of an improving economy.
"Plus, there is a turnover in retirement or (from an increase in) commuting costs as employees seek and are getting employment closer to their homes," Herrman added.
Herrman said Monroe Truck Equipment typically tries to pull employees from the local area because of the pressure of commuter costs. He said he understands that pressure, as he, too, must commute 25 miles to work.
Monroe Truck Equipment uses several avenues to find potential employees: advertising in local publications, multiple hiring agencies, Wisconsin Job Service, Wisconsin technical colleges and best of all, he said, referrals from current employees.
Jamie Yahnke, a staffing specialist with Manpower in Monroe, said she also "reaches out to area technical schools and colleges" and uses ads in local newspapers to find potential employees for her clients.
She said there has been a "substantial" increase in temporary and permanent placements locally in the past few months and most recently for top-skilled customer service representatives to earn $11-13 an hour.
Manpower has recently "partnered with a local company" whose customers "want to talk with someone in the United States, not overseas," she said. "These are not sales and not telemarketing, and not seasonal" she added. "They are for in-bound calls for customer support."
Yahnke noted Manpower's employment outlook survey from Sept. 11 shows employers in Wisconsin expect to hire "at a healthy pace" during 2012's fourth quarter and are slightly more optimistic about their staffing plans than in the same period last year.
For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in construction, durable and non-durable goods manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail trade, information, financial activities, education and health services, leisure and hospitality and other services.
Those occupation areas coincide roughly with the 125 Green County listings on JobCenter of Wisconsin posted during the Oct. 5-25 period. Health care (practitioners and technical) occupations ranked first, with 25 openings. Transportation and material moving - mostly vehicle drivers - ranked second with 18 openings. Manufacturing production occupations ranked third, with 14 openings.
Companies are often willing to train their employees to fit the job, but there is a basic level of education, skill level, employment history and experience needed to be hired, Yahnke said. Her job is to match the skill sets with the position openings.
Welding, as a skilled trade, is used in many manufacturing entities, according to Herrman, and Monroe Truck Equipment uses welders of various levels. But highly skilled, experienced welders are of an older age group and retirement looms for many.
The experienced welder is hard to find now, even though "skilled trades in manufacturing provide a good profession with good earning potential," Herrman said. "Professional welders are very much in need."
He added many young people have opted for college rather than technical or trade schools. Manufacturing is still perceived as "dirty working environments," Herrman said, but today a lot of trade jobs require knowledge of computer numeric controls, a method of controlling manufacturing machines by digital electronic computers and circuitry.
There is an increase in enrollment for skilled trades at state technical schools, Herrman said, and schools, such as Blackhawk Technical College, are responding to the need. But, there is a lag-time, he noted, for high school students to get through tech school and then gain experience in entry-level positions to replace the retiring master welders. Meanwhile, many college students are facing unemployment straight out of graduation.
Kevin Monahan, manager of human resources at Orchid Monroe, along with representatives from other companies and local school districts, sits on a BTC advisory board. He has also joined an advisory board of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development.
According to Monahan, these boards are making inroads into the employment gap, building bridges with education and training.
"The people we have in this area are a great, hardworking workforce," he said. And while Orchid can train people for assembly positions, workers still need basic reading and math skills. The company has a more difficult time finding welders and operators for coordinate measuring machines, which must come with technical training.
Often the best place to start training a new workforce is in high schools.
Monahan noted one new program brings high school students into the plant to show them the work opportunities that can be had and dispel old myths of manufacturing jobs. It also helps students understand the skills they will need.
BTC has moved into area high schools with dual-credit articulation agreements, allowing high school students to use credits from BTC courses to fulfill their high school graduation requirements, giving students a jump start on their advanced training.
"It's not a new program, but it has a stronger emphasis now," said Jennifer Thayer, dean at the BTC's Monroe campus. "It's been an under-utilized resource for a long time.
On the horizon is Blackhawk's new Advanced Manufacturing Center for Green and Rock counties. The school now has requests for proposals out to find a building to set up the center in Rock County.
"It's a place to house more programs and extend current programs to meet the skills gap", Thayer said. The center will be outfitted with all the equipment needed for students to train on, from welding to robotics, and in every aspect of business and manufacturing's automated systems -mechanical, electrical and computerized.
The idea for the center was "put on the fast track," she said, and is expected to be up and running in a couple years, in time to meet the rising demand for training, as predicted by the increasing number of articulations agreements being signed by students. The center is being built with funding from grants and public-private partnerships.
But Thayer said some programs will be conducted on the Monroe campus. "We are hearing some business want some needs met right here if possible," she said.