Opinion

Skilled-worker shortage being felt

When the workforce-training issues session at last Wednesday's 2012 Texas Manufacturers Summit concluded, I watched to see who would approach the presenters for further discussions.

Although the San Marcos summit was a statewide event, the people buttonholing the workforce training speakers all were from San Antonio.

Gene Bowman, executive director of the four Alamo Area Academies, was urging Tom Pauken, Texas Workforce Commission chairman, to personally visit the aerospace, manufacturing, information technology/security and health professions academies.

The high school-to-career academies are organized and driven by employers in each industry. Earlier in the day, Bowman invited Texas House Speaker Joe Straus to come see the academies, too, since Straus has charged 30 House committees with recommending ways to advance Texas manufacturing.

Also at the session's end, San Antonio Manufacturers Association President and CEO Rey Chavez and an association board member, John Dewey, double-teamed another TWC official about the flexibility of a state program to train factory workers.

Nothing is crippling the U.S. economic recovery more than the inability of U.S. companies to find trained, skilled workers for open positions, which number in the hundreds of thousands. No U.S. industry is hampered by the shortage of skilled workers more than manufacturing.

One presenter during the summit session mentioned a Corpus Christi factory that advertised for 15 technical positions. More than 600 applications later, the factory still had 15 openings.

It's a national problem. Yet, San Antonio feels the urgency more than other places.

A state program, TWC's Skills Development Fund, can help address manufacturers' immediate worker needs with customized training, said Dewey, vice president of operations at manufacturer ITM Partners Ltd.

But the San Antonio Manufacturers Association has identified intermediate and long-term needs as well, Dewey said.

The intermediate need is the scary one. Baby boomers now working for San Antonio-area manufacturing employers will retire in huge numbers five to 10 years from now, Dewey said. No solution is in sight at the moment.

The long-term shortage for San Antonio is more manageable, Dewey said, because of the ongoing success of the Alamo Area Academies operated by Alamo Colleges and many area school districts.

Straus and Pauken really ought to visit the Alamo Area Academies. They constantly speak of the skills gap. But if they haven't seen firsthand what probably rates as the best program in the state for guiding high school students into productive, good-paying careers, the state officials have no context to pursue long-term solutions.

Manufacturers, for their part, ought to look into the TWC program for small businesses with fewer than 100 employees seeking skilled workers, Dewey said. Tuition and fees are paid by a grant. Employers can select classroom or online training courses available at community colleges and technical schools.

TWC personnel, once an application is approved, will help manufacturers enroll the employees.

The program pays up to $1,450 for new employees and $725 for existing workers per 12-month period.

Information is available online at ssb.texasworkforce.org or by calling 877-463-1777.

Obtaining immediate help, such as from the TWC program, can make the difference between winning and losing contracts when bidding for projects, Dewey stressed.

dhendricks@express-news.net