Connecticut’s Manufacturing Industry Takes Strides Forward
Connecticut’s manufacturing industry isn’t quite what it used to be, but the state is making some efforts to create a better environment for the industry, with a particular focus on training more workers in advanced manufacturing.
In all, Connecticut has around 155,000 manufacturing workers, but that’s down about 30,000 from 10 years ago, and at the beginning of 1990, there were over 300,000 people employed in the industry. Still, manufacturing is important for the state, with around 4,500 CT companies in manufacturing, comprising nearly 10% of total employment in the state.
Plus, average compensation in the industry within Connecticut is about $95,000, which is more than 50% higher than the average for other nonfarm businesses, according to the National Association of Manufacturers.
As such, the state, along with business organizations like the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), are encouraging more growth in this sector.
And Connecticut already has demand for more manufacturing workers, as older workers are retiring, while manufacturers are expecting an increase in orders, particularly due to defense spending, says CBIA.
Building a Pipeline Through Education
At CBIA’s Connecticut Business Day in March, Governor Malloy “acknowledged that Connecticut must be creative in finding ways to expand the pipeline of skilled manufacturing workers,” writes CBIA, and he highlighted the high pay as a selling point.
He also noted that the state has gone from having one community college with an advanced manufacturing program to seven during his time in office.
Now, the state wants to go even further in its education efforts. Doing so should help fill more CT manufacturing openings, considering that 98% of graduates from Connecticut’s community college advanced manufacturing centers find jobs.
The legislature has a number of bills under consideration that would improve manufacturing education beyond just in these centers, such as HB 7271, which would establish a technical high school system as an independent state agency. Also, SB 963 would reduce the amount of employment experience a technical high school teacher needs. Thus, the bill could create more teachers to help meet the demands of an expanding system.
Getting More Tech-Oriented
Manufacturers in Connecticut also need to find workers that can keep up with technology changes in the industry.“We at Trumpf struggle to hire employees with the skill set we are looking for as a high-technology firm and we need innovative ideas to develop our workforce,” said Dr. Christine Benz, training manager at Trumpf, which is a global machine tools manufacturer that has its U.S. headquarters in Farmington, CT. Her remarks were made testifying before the Higher Education Committee regarding SB 837. That bill would establish a task force to identify high growth, high demand jobs, as well as look into developing more apprenticeship partnerships.As Benz alluded to, manufacturing is more technology driven today, so it’s important to develop workers that have modern skills. Connecticut’s advanced manufacturing programs that develop skills in areas like working with robotics or data analysis to improve the supply chain tend to have higher starting average salaries than more physical manufacturing jobs in CT, like welding. And the new task force could find more ways to prepare workers for these types of
With a more tech-oriented workforce, manufacturers can then take better advantage of other areas of new technology that promote operational efficiency, ranging from software for workforce scheduling or energy management to hardware like internet of things (IoT) machines that can incorporate automation and provide more data that can be used to find further improvements.
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