Help Wanted? the Fuzzy Reality

If you are feeling that the recently released employment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are not reflective of the challenges that still exist in finding people to work at your shop and in the metal fabrication industry, a deeper dive into the numbers reflects you’re not wrong.   

July’s report shows that employment rose by 528,000 and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5%, which was unexpected when forecasts were in a much lower 250,000 range. In the face of many headwinds, total employment has both reached and surpassed the pre-pandemic employment level and now sits at an all-time high.   

On the surface, it would seem it’s time to pop champagne corks across our industry, yet when I speak with many of our members the common theme reflects the continued struggle to find people to work. These same members report both full order backlogs and full capacity mainly because they can only produce to the current levels of staffing.  

In drilling down specifically into the Fabricated Metal Product Manufacturing (NAIC 332) industry, July’s total employment for the industry is 1,439.6M which is 30,000 jobs short of February 2020’s pre-pandemic employment level of 1.469.6M. This is an incredible bounce back from April 2020’s pandemic-induced employment low point of 1,345.5M. A deeper dive down to the production and non-supervisory category, the current level is 1056.4M a big comeback from April 2020’s pandemic low of 981,000, but still 35,000 short of February 2020’s pre-pandemic level of 1090.1M.

I offer this data to validate the shared stories that the industry is still short of the people it needs on the front line of production.   

We continue to work diligently through our charitable foundation, Nuts, Bolts and Thingamajigs (NBT) to recruit the best and brightest into our industry. We accomplish this task with a two-pronged strategy. The first strategy is focused on attracting people to the industry by providing scholarships to those pursuing manufacturing-related fields of study. For 2022, NBT will award grants totaling $90,000 to 55 individuals, with 43 of those going to students attending 2-year programs which leads to faster entry into the industry. Since its inception, NBT has awarded nearly $1.3 million in scholarships to over 600 students, and we look forward to continuing to support them in their pursuit of manufacturing-related careers.

Our second strategy is to reach late middle school/early high school students through summer manufacturing camps. These programs are crucial in introducing them to manufacturing and manufacturing career opportunities to best compete for the future best and brightest. This summer, through our camp grant program, NBT is supporting 165 camps held at community colleges, technical colleges, and high schools across 26 states and Canada, reaching nearly 2,500 students who many will be experiencing for the first time the process of making something. We are well on our way to supporting 200 camps to shape our next-generation workforce.   

FMA understands that attracting, training and retaining a qualified workforce is the key to growth and sustainability for our industry and we remain committed to doing our part to support our industry in this incredible challenge.