Michigan manufacturing evolved to stay active throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As manufacturing continues to ramp up to meet pent-up demand, we’re finding a new challenge: a shortage of workers with skilled trades looking for employment.
What’s Going On?
Finding skilled trade workers has always been a challenge. High school courses focused on developing manufacturing related skills are limited at best. When companies are able to hire a new employee, overtasked shift supervisors lack the bandwidth to onboard and develop new talent. And then there is the perfect unemployment storm. Michigan currently has 600,000 – 900,000 individuals claiming unemployment – a whopping 15% of the labor force. In many cases, individuals are hesitant to seek employment when current unemployment compensation and benefits exceed what they believe they could earn with a new employer. (Not the case!)
In Michigan, professional trades positions account for more than 545,000 jobs, with approximately 47,000 new job openings expected annually through 2026. And wages for professional trade occupations is 45 percent higher than other occupations, with a median salary of $54,000. For employers and employees, it’s a great time to develop your team.
Solving for the now. Planning for the future.
Leveraging companies with on-demand skilled staffing support, like E&M Design Solutions, is a great way to solve your immediate needs. Our team has resources focused on quality, compliance and program and project management, and can immediately step in and take on compliance-related needs, as well as project, construction, and file management needs. We can help for as little, or as long as you need us.
Conversely, you still need to plan for future and long-term needs. We can help here as well, with training courses that can quickly up-skill new or existing team members, or even help with the interviewing process.
For over 10 years, EMDS has been helping customers in West Michigan with whatever they need to be successful. In many cases, we’ve worked with customers for so long, they consider us part of their team.
The need for skilled labor is going to continue to evolve and grow in the upcoming years. Let E&M Design Solutions help with your immediate and long-term needs, so we can all get through to “what’s next” together.
Cheryl and Team