U.S. Factories: White-Collar Education for Blue-Collar Work
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What shift in U.S. manufacturing workforce does this episode introduce?
Here's your Money Briefing for Tuesday, December 10th. I'm J.R. Whalen at The Wall Street Journal in New York. The manufacturing sector used to employ more workers without college degrees than those with a higher education. Not anymore. In the past few years, there's been a shift in factories toward problem-solving and highly computerized automation, and they need more highly skilled workers to run them. Wall Street Journal reporter Austin Hufford will explain. First, some money and market news you should know. Natural gas prices continue to decline.
How have natural gas and market trends been summarized at the start of the episode?
On Monday, futures prices for January fell 4.5% amid unseasonably mild weather and continued production growth. And while a cold spell is expected to pass over the Midwest and the East during the middle of this week, which could raise gas demand, it's not likely to last. Forecasters believe that December's generally mild weather will result in the natural gas market finishing the winter oversupplied and could push prices to their lowest level in three years.
U.S. manufacturers have added more than a million jobs since the recession, but manufacturing jobs are evolving.
How has post-recession automation changed who gets manufacturing jobs?
Now they require more automation, and an education gap has emerged. Wall Street Journal reporter Austin Hufford joins us to discuss. So, Austin, there's a stark difference in the profile of the manufacturing workforce before and compared to after the recession.
Basically, over the last few decades, we're seeing an upskilling of the manufacturing economy, you know, driven by automation and trade. Basically, that means is that within a few years, there's going to be more manufacturing workers with college degrees than workers with at most the high school education.
And what do the data tell you is the degree to which jobs have shifted in the manufacturing sector?
What evidence shows jobs requiring complex problem solving are growing in manufacturing?
In the last six years, the jobs requiring the most complex problem solving skills, like the engineers and those types of jobs, grew 10%. The jobs that required the least amount of complex problem-solving skills such as cleaners fell 3%. This is likely to be repeated across the manufacturing economy. Basically, the jobs that require the most thinking are growing, and the jobs that require the least amount of thought, the ones that are most rote, are declining.
So this trend has been going on for some time, but did the recession and the recovery accelerate that?
Yes, definitely. Basically, in the aftermath of the recession, there was a ton of layoffs as factories closed and other things.
Which specific skills and training are manufacturers now seeking?
And since then, the new jobs added have increasingly been going to the higher skilled. Even though we added more than a million jobs, there are actually less people employed today in manufacturing with a high school diploma than then before the recession.
What kinds of advanced skills are being sought after by companies?
It's a wide range, but it's definitely things that are very skill based. You know, these manufacturing companies don't necessarily want a liberal arts education or an English degree. They want someone who knows how to weld, who can operate an advanced milling machine. It's more about having skills that allows you to do specific jobs and grow with the company over time. It's not about sort of an advanced exploration of the mind, as many people think college is about.
How did Pioneer Service’s automation transformation illustrate opportunities and limits for workers?
Now, Austin, you saw these changes up close at a company called Pioneer Service in Chicago.
In the suburbs of Chicago, where I'm based, Pioneer Service has invested a ton in automating their factory floor. You know, basically over the last five or 10 years, the company has completely transformed itself. Now, about half of its workforce is women and they're much highly educated than before.
And what sort of products does Pioneer Service provide?
So Pioneer Service is what we call a machine shop. Basically, they're making advanced and intricate metal parts. Most of them are pretty... small, maybe under a foot on each side, maybe even only a few inches. But these parts have very high tolerances, meaning that they can't be off by even more than a millimeter in some cases.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What shift in U.S. manufacturing workforce does this episode introduce?
0:05–0:35
2
How have natural gas and market trends been summarized at the start of the episode?
0:35–1:17
3
How has post-recession automation changed who gets manufacturing jobs?
1:17–1:57
4
What evidence shows jobs requiring complex problem solving are growing in manufacturing?
1:57–2:39
5
Which specific skills and training are manufacturers now seeking?
2:39–3:25
6
How did Pioneer Service’s automation transformation illustrate opportunities and limits for workers?
3:25–5:38
7
What challenges and solutions are discussed for re-skilling lower-skilled manufacturing workers?
5:38–7:53
Speakers
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