2.4 Million Skilled Jobs Projected to Go Unfilled According to Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute

The Manufacturing Institute  reported that as “growth in the U.S. economy continues and manufacturers create more and more jobs in a thriving sector, the industry’s pre-existing workforce crisis could get even worse, according to a new 2018 skills gap study,” conducted by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.

“The widening manufacturing skills gap is expected to grow from about 488,000 jobs left open today to as many as 2.4 million manufacturing jobs going unfilled between this year and 2028 (compared with 2 million jobs between 2015 and 2025 per our earlier study). In turn, $454 billion in manufacturing GDP could be at risk in 2028, or more than $2.5 trillion over the next decade.”

Carolyn Lee, executive director of The Manufacturing Institute, said, “While the manufacturing industry today is thriving and optimistic, the sector’s workforce crisis seems to be casting a dark cloud over the future. About 73 percent of manufacturers cite this crisis as their top concern according to the NAM’s latest ‘Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey,’ and The Manufacturing Institute’s new study with Deloitte only underlines the urgency of taking on and solving this challenge.” Lee said, “There are a variety of factors driving this crisis, from having the wrong perceptions about what modern manufacturing jobs look like to not having the necessary skills to get them, which is why The Manufacturing Institute is working hard to solve it in a multifaceted way. We’re driving a range of initiatives, designed to engage and inspire more young people, more women, more veterans and more Americans of all backgrounds to build great careers in the industry that built our country.”