Skilled-worker dearth frustrating factories

HOLLAND, Mich. — This stretch of the Rust Belt might seem like an easy place to find factory workers.

Unemployment hovers above 9 percent. Foreign competition has thrown many out of work. It is a platitude that this industrial hub, like the country itself, needs more manufacturing work.

But as the 2012 presidential candidates roam the state offering ways to “bring the jobs back,” many manufacturers say that the jobs are here.

What’s missing are skilled workers needed to fill them.

A metal parts factory in Holland, Mich., has been searching since the fall for a machinist, an assembly team leader, and a die-setter. Another plant is offering referral bonuses for a welder. And a firm that makes molds for automakers has tried for seven months to fill four spots on second shift.

“Our guys have been working 60 to 70 hours a week, and they’re dead. They’re gone,” said Corey Carolla, vice president of operations at Mach Mold, a 40-man shop in Benton Harbor, Mich. “We need more people. The trouble is finding them.”

Through a mix of overseas competition and productivity gains, the United States has lost nearly 4 million manufacturing jobs in 10 years.

But many manufacturers say the losses have not yielded a surplus of skilled factory workers.

Instead, as automation has transformed factories and altered the skills needed to operate and maintain factory equipment, the laid-off workers, who may be familiar with the old-fashioned presses and lathes, are often unqualified to run the new.

Compounding the problem is a demographic wave.

At some factories, much of the work force consists of Baby Boomers nearing retirement. Many younger workers who might have taken their place have avoided manufacturing because of the volatility and stigma of factory work, as well as perceptions that manufacturing is a “dying industry.”

“Politicians make it sound like there’s a line out front of workers with a big sign saying, ‘No more jobs,’” said Matt Tyler, chief executive of a precision metal company in New Troy, Mich. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Just last week, Mr. Tyler said, when a fracking company asked him to make pieces for pipes, his chief worry was if he could find six new operators to do the work. “This was never a problem I thought we’d be having,” he said.

The frustrations are shared across the country.

A report by Deloitte for the Manufacturing Institute, based on a survey of manufacturers, found as many as 600,000 jobs are going unfilled. By comparison, the jobless in the United States number 12.8 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“High unemployment is not making it easier to fill positions, particularly in the areas of skilled production and production support,” the Deloitte report found.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that although fewer machinists would be employed in the future, job opportunities “should continue to be good” because many young people with the right aptitudes prefer other fields.

“It used to be that a factory owner would say, ‘I need 20 guys,’ and pull them right off the street,” said P.J. Thompson, president of Trans-Matic, a metal-parts manufacturer. “Now it’s: ‘I need 20 guys with very specialized technical skills.’ There’s a mismatch.”

Driving this shortage is the way that automation is transforming U.S. manufacturing.

Much of the demand for skilled workers arises because the automated factories demand workers who can operate, program, and maintain the new computerized equipment.

Many of those who have been laid off can operate only the old-fashioned manual machines.

One other key factor for the shortage, however, is the loss of Baby Boom workers.

Attracting younger workers onto the factory floor can be difficult.

Machine-shop classes have been cut in some high schools.

Many high schools, moreover, would rather focus on helping children get into four-year colleges than prepare them for vocational pursuits.